Sarah Pinborough born 1972, in Milton Keynes is
an English horror writer whose works have been compared with such writers as
Dean Koontz, Richard Layman and Bentley Little.
Under the name Sarah Silverwood she also writes fantasy novels for
children with the Nowhere Chronicles.
Sarah has written two Torchwood novels ‘Into
the Silence’ (2009) and ‘Long Time Dead’ and also wrote ‘Kaleidoscope’ for the
‘Consequences’ novel, that also features short stories by David Llewellyn,
James Moran, Andrew Cartmel and Joseph Lidster.
Sarah also wrote the 2nd episode of the 9th
Series of New Tricks ‘Old School Ties’ (2012),
the crime drama starring James Bolam, Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong
and Amanda Redman.
In 2012 it was announced that director Peter
Medak had been attached to direct ‘Cracked’, a screenplay based on Sarah
Pinborough's first novel ‘The Hidden’.
Recently Project: Torchwood interviewed Sarah
Pinborough in connection with her story Kaleidoscope for Consequences and about
her new projects and book launches.
I liked
the feel of this story from the point of Danny Dillard, a lad who didn’t have
much and had that feel good factor with the kaleidoscope, and how it changed
even his dad, but it was the twist at the end though when things didn’t quite
end as you hoped. I loved your
description of the boy and his life, had you based those characters on anyone
you knew?
Sarah: No, I rarely base
characters on people I know, but I had worked at a school on quite a tough
estate for a few years so that probably fed into it a bit.
What
prompted the idea of a kaleidoscope for the Rehabilitator?
Sarah: I honestly can't
remember! Although it seems natural for it to be something you look through
that distorts things. I'd probably looked through one close to the time I had
to come up with the story or something.
Your
story Kaleidoscope would have occurred when Jack went off with the Doctor and
just before he returned for Series 2 in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? It did seem odd not seeing Jack coming into
the story, but having the four other members working harder to prove
themselves. Was it harder on yourself to
have all four members to operate in your head and on paper? All talking to you at once.
Sarah: No, not really. In the
novels I have all five of them – well, at least in Into the Silence. In Long
Time Dead it's mainly just Suzy's narrative. The thing with writing tie-in
novels is they tend to be quite dialogue focussed because you're emulating the
show, and so it's more natural to have them all talking and the flow just
comes. They have very separate voices and as most of the people reading the
books are already very familiar with the characters you don't have to spend a
lot of time establishing them.
You’ve
just launched your new book ‘Poison’ – congratulations on the book, have you
always been interested in the genre you write for or has this developed over
the years?
Sarah: Poison (to be followed
by Charm and Beauty) is a departure for me. I normally write
crime/horror/fantasy/sci-fi style stories so re-working fairy tales has been
quite different. But I've enjoyed doing them and fairy tales are a type of
fantasy. Plus, there are some quite dark elements in mine.
I’ve been
toying with two different styles of writing, first person which always had me
struggling but has somewhat worked on a new story – horror piece in fact, and another
which is third person omniscient which I prefer to write as, do you vary your
writing styles, or favour one over the other?
Sarah: I tend to write third
person – I prefer to get multiple viewpoints. But in Mayhem I've used first
person for one character and third for the others.
Have you
always had a passion for writing?
Sarah: I don't think you can
be an author if you don't have a passion for writing and reading.
Your new
book at the moment ‘Poison’ is this aimed at the Young Adult, and can you tell
us about the book, what it’s about? From
the items you had on the table in your photo, I’m thinking it is a version of
the old Snow White and the apple story, but I’m grasping at straws here, I’ve
not read any reviews upon it.
Sarah: Poison is very
definitely NOT aimed at the young adult market ;-). It's quite adult in
content, with quite a lot of sex and some violence as well as romance and
humour. It's a reworking of Snow White.
I was
looking up on your website and you have another book coming out called ‘Mayhem’
does this run in line with the book ‘Poison’ and the two other books coming out
this year ‘Charm’ and ‘Beauty’?
Sarah: No, Mayhem is a
Victorian supernatural crime novel based on real life events. Mayhem is from
Quercus and Poison, Charm and Beauty - fairy tale re-tellings - are from
Gollancz.
Questions
from fans
Kate Mora
@Jedikat71 asks:
I’m curious, has Sarah listened to Blue
Gillespie (since her book had Ianto undercover in a Welsh choir?)
Sarah: No, I haven't. I will
check it out!
Mickie
Newton asks: What drew you to writing for the TW canon of novels, what was your
inspiration behind “Into the Silence.”
Sarah: I wrote for them
because I was lucky enough to be asked if I'd be interested in writing some, so
it wasn't really a case of being drawn to them, but being lucky enough to be
drawn into them, as it were. As for Into the Silence I wanted to write
something that seemed scary but turned out to be quite moving. It starts as
quite a horror tale, but I hope by the end there is some emotional payoff.
Special
thanks to Sarah Pinborough for the interview, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Pinborough
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