Our next debut writer, Jane Fraser, is the author of a collection of short stories that explore life in the Gower peninsula.
Read on to find out more about her writing life and route to publication.
Tell us a little about your book and how you came to write it.
The title of my debut collection of short fiction is The South Westerlies: twenty short stories set in the Gower peninsula, south Wales, unified by the tone of the dank, prevalent south-westerly wind that blows across the peninsula, the UK’s first designated area of outstanding natural beauty (1956). It is to be published by SALT, one of the UK’s foremost independent publishers of literary fiction on 15th June 2019.
I wrote the stories for my PhD submission in creative writing at Swansea University in 2017. I live and still work full-time in Gower along with my husband, Philip, running a design business so I decided to root my research in an area I knew as I was very time-poor.
What makes your book unique?
Gower is undoubtedly a beautiful place: wonderful coastline, rich agricultural and cultural history – a rural idyll. As such, it is much vaunted as a tourism product and heavily marketed. Visitors flock to the area in search of adventure and spiritual healing. And indeed it is beautiful.
However, my forty-something years living here have shown me that it is too beautiful, perhaps, for its own good and can be on occasion, a troubled paradise: struggling farms and struggling farmers, low-end tourism, feuds and factionism, issues of second homes, those that are drawn to the peninsula, those who resent their coming, and those who can’t wait to get away. For the purpose of this particular collection of fiction, this is where I chose to cast my gaze.
For this reason, I believe my book to be unique as it does not focus of the pasteurised façade of Gower, but digs deep beneath the surface to expose the other side of Gower that has perhaps, until now, remained hidden.
There is wide cast of characters, young and old, male and female, which I hope give glimpses of what life can be really like here in Gower, when all the tourists have gone home and it often rains on the horizontal. For example, there is a story of a surfer who is married to the sea at the expense of his relationship; a farmer’s wife living through domestic violence, a recently widowed woman who travels on the local bus in search of her identity, and a farmer who questions his role as an eldest son on the day of his father’s funeral and two farming brothers who fall out big-time over an inheritance. Place is not a cosmetic backdrop, but an active participant in shaping my characters and the actions they take in story.
Of course, the stories are not real; but they are rooted in the reality of personal experience. Walking has been central to their making – I have walked into writing, using images I have seen or phrases overhead on my walks as catalysts to making story.
Your book will soon be in readers’ hands. Which part of being published are you most excited about?
Excited, yes, but also nervous. Writing is such a solitary business and suddenly I have the feeling of being exposed. But that is part of being an author. Not everyone will ‘like’ my work, I know that; but I hope that people will engage with it. I feel my stories needed to be told, that they give voice to those that might otherwise not be heard. They are the best I could do at a particular moment in time. And I feel happy that I am in the safe hands of SALT, who champion both the short story and debut writers such as me.
What has been the most challenging part of your journey to publication?
This might sound strange, but I have not found it challenging. I have loved every minute of the writing and academic process. For the first time in my life, I am doing something that I want to do and that engages me creatively. That is so satisfying. I am very lucky.
Lucky too, in that I was approached by SALT, so have not had to approach numerous publishers. They were my dream publisher but were not open to submissions. And then one day, I had an email for Chris Hamilton-Emery, Editor, asking me to forward a collection to him (I have two – Connective Tissue is the other which I am hoping to publish later). My work had been recommended to him through the Manchester Fiction Prize where I have a good track record and was a finalist in 2017 – so I was on the radar. He told me he’d like to publish The South Westerlies as part of his 2019 list in SALT’s twentieth anniversary. I still can’t believe it.
Do you have a writing mentor, or someone who has influenced your work?
My PhD supervisor, until the time of his untimely death in 2014, was the wonderful Welsh poet and psychogeographer, Nigel Jenkins. His influence remains with me and lines taken from Advice to a Young Poet acted as the signpost to my research for The South Westerlies.
Know your place.
What legends and myths
Have their shaping here?
What novels, stories and histories?
And who have been denied a voice?
And how in this place, worker of the word,
Might you make yourself useful?
Other significant influences along the way to publication have been Fflur Dafydd, who supervised my PhD after Nigel’s death, and the Irish writer and teacher extraordinaire, Claire Keegan. I am currently writing a novel, and my friend, the fabulous Sunday Times shortlisted short story writer and Costa first novelist short-lister, Rebecca. F. John, is a very patient mentor who lives relatively near to me.
If there was one book that you could have written, other than your own, what would it be and why?
This is difficult. Too difficult. But I love writers who can transport me to a place, make it live on the page with all its nuances: Sarah Hall, Daniel Woodrell, Annie Proulx. But it would have to be a dead author that I’d choose – Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights for the sense and spirit of place that she evokes.
What advice would you give to other writers hoping to publish a short story collection?
I am a debut writer: a novice in the publishing business so don’t feel comfortable with giving advice. But the advice that was given to me was write for yourself, from the heart and from the gut, not to market trends. Write your best stories: collections don’t necessarily have to be theme-lead, interlinked, or composite novels. I was also told to think of a collection like a music album in terms of tone and mood. Start with a story that sets the tone of the collection. Finish with a story that lingers long in the reader’s mind long after they have closed the covers. And never give up. Writing is a tough business and if you’re not serious you shouldn’t bother – again, that was what I was told. Harsh but true.
Is there a debut collection or novel you’re particularly looking forward to reading in 2019?
I am an avid Twitter fan and have found much support in this online writing community. I follow writers’ stories and journeys and keep a close eye on what’s in the pipeline. I am looking forward to reading the debut novel Water Shall Refuse Them by fellow-Welsh writer, Lucie McKnight Hardy, published by Dead Ink in July 2019. It’s about borders and belonging so I just know I’ll love it.
About the author
Jane Fraser lives, works and writes fiction in Gower in a house facing the sea. By day she is co-director of NB:Design along with her husband, Philip. In 2017 she was a finalist for the Manchester Fiction Prize. In 2018 she was placed second in the Fish Memoir Prize and selected as one of Hay Writers at Work. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Cambridge Short Story Prize (results pending). She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University.
The South Westerlies is published by SALT on 15 June 2019.
Visit Jane’s website or follow her on Twitter to find out more. You can order the book from SALT’s website or Amazon.