To celebrate the publication of her new book, Sisters of the Midnight Sun, bestselling author Fiona Valpy shares with us her magpie-method to storybuilding, photos from her field research in Norway and Shetland and the importance of letting go of perfectionism.
What does your writing process, from gathering ideas to finishing a manuscript, look like?
Like a magpie, I’m constantly collecting ideas. I have folders filled with notes, articles, images, scraps of paper with names, dates and places scribbled on them. Some may never see the light of day, but others slowly begin to coalesce until I have enough to sketch out a plan and write a synopsis of the story that’s taking shape. Ideally, I like to spend around three months researching a new book before I begin to write. I call this period ‘composting’ – gathering material and letting everything settle until something new can grow from it. Then, when the writing phase begins in earnest, I’ll lock myself away every morning – the time I write best – so I can immerse myself in the world of my characters. I edit and re-edit several times before I’m ready to submit the finished manuscript.
Where do you start with researching? Do you delve into records straight away?
I try to read around my subject matter as widely and deeply as possible, getting a better idea of context and drawing up a precise historical timeline against which my story will be set. Primary sources are invaluable to get a true feel for what people witnessed and went through. It’s only after that broad-brush phase that I’ll begin digging deeper into records, filling in more of the details.
Where do you research? (Online, on location, in libraries?) If online – what platforms do you use to research?
I believe it’s essential to do as much research as possible on location. My aim is to transport my readers to different times and places, and to do so I need to have walked in the footsteps of my characters, absorbing the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and atmosphere of the setting. It’s often the conversations you have with the locals you meet that give your story a sense of veracity. For Sisters of the Midnight Sun, I visited Norway twice and made several trips to Shetland at different times of year. I prepare thoroughly for my research trips, so I know if there’s anything specific I need to check in situ. Afterwards, I’ll follow up with books and online research. I stick mainly to Google and Wikipedia. The new AI tools, while a real worry for authors, do have advantages in quickly pulling together information from a number of sources. The results always need to be carefully double-checked though!
What would be your one piece of advice for writers just getting started?
Get the words out of your head and down onto paper or into your laptop. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect – there will be many, many edits further down the line – but until you have a completed manuscript, nothing else can happen.
