How do you think the collection comes together as a whole?
The book has three main sections: it begins with a sequence called ‘All But Forgotten’, which is in memory of my dad, who passed away in 2022 – he had a terrible last thirteen months or so, he had cancer but also alcohol-induced dementia. The second section looks at borders, metaphorical and literal, some set in Albania and Korea, and some about the condition of England, you could say.
In the third, I play a bit fast and loose with the narratives of four Lincolnshire folk tales – I wanted to make things that were scandalous fun, I’ve moved them about a bit. I hope they piss off some folklorists! Who tend to be quite serious about preserving a tradition that I don’t think should be kept in aspic. Those are the three constituent parts, and the title speaks to all three of them, I think, in different ways.
You wear another hat as an Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University, where you lead the Creative Writing MA. How much of creativity is down to nature, do you think, and how much is nurture?
Hmm. You can’t inherently teach talent – you’re not God, you can’t make that spark – but you can cultivate it, and a lot of people have a lot more potential than they realise. It’s not wholly innate, because that would imply that for anyone with a bit of talent, that anything that comes out of their quill, their chalk, their fingertips will be golden, and everyone would be mad for not reading it, and that’s just not true.
You can be taught to harness and develop your own talent, to develop interests, to put together a manuscript so that it shines, how to be your best critic – which doesn’t always mean your harshest critic, although it can. And how to have confidence in the process.
What might you say to writers who are just starting their journeys?
Take yourself seriously, take your time. And take risks.
Rory Waterman’s collection Come Here To This Gate is available from Carcanet Press from Thursday 25 April, with a reading at Five Leaves Bookshop on Thursday 18 April.
