Ask the Author: Helen Sedgwick
[J. Bradley / August 22nd, 2011 / Interviews ]Helen Sedgwick’s fiction is included in the London Calling issue. We talk about her hunting name, what’s in the bag, the relationship between editing and writing and more.
1. How would you blacken Ireland’s eye?
In my mind it’s fairly black already! The island is uninhabited, but it contains the ruins of Martello tower with its entrance, 5m above the ground, accessed by an ominous rope that hangs from the window. It would certainly be the perfect setting for a horror story, backed up by history: In 1852 a woman was murdered by her husband on the island, and I imagine her ghost still swings from that rope. Today, Ireland’s Eye is covered with endlessly screeching seabirds; razorbills, fulmars and gulls cover the rocks to give the island a squirming undergrowth of black and grey.
2. What would be your hunting name?
I think I’d pay tribute to some of my favourite myths and legends by using Artemis of the Wildland.
3. Who would you chase into the ocean?
My brother – although he’s a grown man now and could certainly outrun me!
4. How was “The Lost Things and The Seagull” born?
It was inspired by the true story of a crime that took place in Ireland decades ago. Two young children were playing on the beach near their home, when they found a plastic bag that had been washed up by the tide. The contents of the bag were gruesome, and the crime that was discovered shocked the community. My own grandparents lived near Howth and as a family we often spent rainy summer holidays on the Irish coast. I was always disturbed by the knowledge that, had the timing been different, it could have been my brother and I who found that bag, and its terrible contents.
5. How has editing a journal affected your writing?
My own writing is constantly improving as a result of editing. In general, I think the more you read, and the more you edit, the better writer you become. Fractured West, being a flash fiction magazine, is all about the power and emotional impact that short but perfectly formed stories can have. In the best flash fiction every word is important, and the writing is focused, precise and considered. Every time I apply that same focus – that attention to every detail and every phrase – to my own prose, I know that it gets better.
6. What’s in the bag?
In my story, it’s a dead seagull – at least, that’s what the children think it is. In the original crime, I am sorry to say that a murdered newborn baby was discovered in the plastic shopping bag on the beach. Sadly, truth is sometimes more horrific than fiction.
Nice interview, Helen and J.
Wow, the original crime behind the story is DEFINITELY more horrific. I can see how that inspired you, Helen! It’s sick and sad and uncomfortably fascinating all at the same time.
I had no idea that the story was inspired by a true event. That makes it all the more powerful – and I’m relieved for Amber and Toby, too.
I’m not sure if you can still do this, but a group of us used to climb inside the Martello Tower on Ireland’s Eye when we were young ….. dark and musty, but no sign of a ghost!
why so ‘sad’ and ‘sorry’ when obviously obsessed with psychotic of behaviour of human animal? It’s the brain wot done it!