Ninth up is Donna Scott.
What made you want to become a writer?
I can remember being very small and just wanting
to be a reader, and I think becoming a writer felt like a natural
extension of that.
At school in the Black
Country , my first teacher, Mrs Taylor, was brilliant at praise and
encouragement, so I learned to read very quickly. She was also a fantastic
storyteller, so she made story-time absolutely magical for us. The first story
I can remember writing was a piece of Elmer the Elephant fan-fiction, just for
her. I had loved the story we heard at story-time so much, I wanted to write my
own, and so the next day I was allowed to sit on my own at a table and write it
while the rest of the class were seated on the mat listening to that day’s
story. That’s also my first multi-tasking memory as well, as I couldn’t help
sneaking a listen at the other story while I was trying to concentrate on my
own. Story of my life! I am so busy these days with my editorial work –
on other people’s writing – that my own work tends to take a bit of a back
seat. If only I had the same energy I did when I was five, though – that Elmer
story ran to three whole pages!
I was very lucky to have some lovely teachers
early on who encouraged my love of books. My big sister – who is twelve years
older than me – finished school at sixteen and was done with her school
texts, so off they went into a box in the garage, from where they were going to
be thrown away. So, aged five and thinking myself a competent enough reader, I
would sneak in there and try to get my “big book” fix. Wuthering Heights
When my mom found me sneaking in the garage to
read those dusty old school-texts, I think she had a bit of a guilt trip: there
weren’t very many books at home when I was little. So, my mom got me and my
younger siblings library cards and we’d pay a trip to the library every
Saturday. Books then became a shared joy, and my mom would also take the
opportunity to indulge herself in a bit of Barbara Taylor Bradford or Catherine
Cookson.
The first I realised that I could make a career
of writing was when I was seven. Another teacher, Mrs Wakefield, put me and my
older friend Joanne forward to go and meet a local writer, Susan Price, who was giving a talk at Himley Hall. I can remember being absolutely
fascinated by her. She told four stories based on folk tales, and the one I
remember most clearly is the one I have never found since: the story of a bride
and groom who are tricked and must leave their own bodies to save each other.
When they go back to their bodies, they must pour a little of their blood into
their shoes, but they get mixed up and end up in the wrong bodies… but they
find it does not matter. If anyone knows it, please let me know!
I got a lot of encouragement from all quarters,
including my next door neighbours, one of whom was a programmer for Spectrum,
and he gave me reams of old code printout bound into books to write my stories
in.
Now, I hope to encourage the next generation… I
like giving books as presents to my nephews and great-niece (yes, I’m too
young), and last year I gave the first Young Bard of Northampton, Ruby, a bound
book for writing her poems in. I was so pleased to see her on stage at this
year’s Bardic Picnic with it!
What was your first success?
I probably shouldn’t talk further about
juvenilia, but the space shuttle hologram I won when I was eight from a Channel
4 competition – for writing about holograms – gave me a huge boost. I even took
it to university for my bedsit wall (“Look! I could write… once…”) – even though,
by then, the shuttle had started resembling a luminous bogie. As had my
standard of writing.
Ashamed as I am to admit it, I tried on all the
cool fantasy careers as a youngster (music journalist; singer, radio presenter;
cartoonist) and like many people do, got afraid to try my luck with anything I
was not instantly successful at, so it was not until I found encouragement from
Wolverhampton’s then Literature Officer, Simon Fletcher, that I bothered trying to be a better writer and get my stuff ‘out
there’. He’s a wonderful poet who really made me think about the quality of
what I was writing and persuaded me to try poetry again. And I’m very glad I
did.
He also encouraged me to develop my prose and to
submit one of the pieces I wrote for his City Voices event, “Gingerbread”, to a
short story competition running at the Midlands Art Centre, judged by My
Summer of Love author, Helen Cross.… and I
won! My parents came to see me at the event for it and they were so proud.
Poetry-wise, my first big success was being
named as the very first Bard
of Northampton, which was amazing! I’d only done one slam
before, at which I’d misunderstood all the form and rules and everything and
got flustered and forgotten my words, but this was a bit different, with an
emphasis on creativity, community and heart. The Bard must live within a day’s
walk of Delapre Abbey, where the contest is held, and this is important because
they must pledge to work with the local community. I will always have a special
place in my heart for the folks behind the Bardic Chair, because they do so
much to make poetry and spoken word accessible and fun for all. It’s a
fantastic event in a beautiful place, too.
What do
you think the group does for you?
First of all, I am inspired by them. It meant so
much to be accepted into the group – I’d been a fan of Ian Watson’s stories
since I was fourteen! And it’s been amazing to see how each individual member
has benefited and improved their work as part of the process of critique – and
gone on to publishing success. I can remember saying years ago to Ian Whates at
a party (over my nth glass of wine…) that he was fast becoming one of my
biggest inspirations because of how prolific a writer he was becoming. And
since then, he has achieved even more success! It all goes to show, talent plus
hard work, plus a desire to improve on your faults – plus actually doing
the work and sending it off – that’s what gets results.
Secondly, as I have probably already
demonstrated, I need both the brickbats and the bouquets. I need to know when
my writing is sloppy. But I also need encouraging words, the “you can do eet”!
A good writing group can give you that, because it’s made of friends who want
the same in return.
What was
your last piece of work?
My last published story was “Hands” in Daughters of Icarus by Pink Narcissus Press. I thank Ian Watson for encouraging me to get
this submitted.
What's
coming up from you?
I’m currently working on some short stories and
two novels… yes, I’m all over the shop, but I get easily distracted. I should
have some narration work in the offing shortly, and though my performing work
has recently been reduced to fit in more editorial work, I do have the odd gig
planned in. The only one I can definitely tell you about is a cabaret show at The Labour Club on November 28th, and look out for me being a bit harsh
about some local musicians on Unseenn’s Bedge Review show in the next couple of weeks.
I am also Chair of the British Science Fiction
Association – www.bsfa.co.uk
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