An interview with
Jeff Adams
Tell us one of your first experiences where you realised that language had power.
When I read The Odyssey as a teenager. The scene with the cyclops was so believable, it brought the story to life for me. The image of the drunken and passed out cyclops burping up red wine and bits of human flesh has stayed with me for years. I just re-read it. I love the discovery of indelible images, like the dying lion in Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Hemingway put me into the mind of that animal.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
Be fearless, get it on the page, and stand back for a time. Read it later, in a calm moment, and see if it dazzles you.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
How do you know I am not now writing under a pseudonym?
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
When it is technical, or when I am unsure if what I have written is what I wanted to write. For me, research comes after the idea, not before it.
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
Avoiding caricature. Once I get her voice, I am confident.
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
No. Get to the desk. Go through the motions. If your brain does not engage, give it some forgiveness. It won’t disappoint you, but it won’t tell you when it is ready.