Every Friday, we meet a member of the BFS and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). Want to be featured? Email us: online@britishfantasysociety.org
Name:
Carol Carman (she/her)
Which region are you based in?
I’m a Yorkshire lass who’s been living as an economic migrant in Cambridgeshire for almost forty years.
If you write, which genre:
Fantasy
Are you drawn to any specific SFFH sub-genres?
Comedy fantasy
Your influences
Tell us about the book/film/thing that got you into SFFH: What was it? How old were you? What impact did it have on you?
When I was about nine years old, our schoolteacher, Mr Axe, read to the class a book called The Land of Green Ginger by Noel Langley. (Mr Axe also read us quite a lot of The Hobbit but couldn’t finish it in time for the end of the school year so I had to go to the library to borrow it to see how it ended.)
Anyway, The Land of Green Ginger carries on from where the Aladdin story finished, so it’s a fantasy and it’s about Aladdin’s son, who—with the help of the genie’s son—is trying to win the hand of a princess. It’s very funny. (By the way, if you go looking for the book, it seems best to avoid the 1975 version of it, which is a much-reduced version of the original.)
I bought my own copy of the book and read it over and over again and a seed must have been sown because many years later I attended a creative writing class run by screenwriter and playwright Nick Warburton. One of the exercises he set was to write a well-known story from a different point of view. I chose to rewrite a fairy tale, because where there’s magic involved you can have much further extremes than in real life, which gives greater room for comedy, echoing what I’d found all those years ago in The Land of Green Ginger.
How does that early influence show up for you (in life/writing/agenting/publishing/editing/reading) now?
If I can get humour into a story or a situation, then I will, and the idea of taking an already well-known story and either putting another slant on it or using elements of it to create a new story is now my prose stock-in-trade, really.
Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
From the rich variety of well-known stories that we already have. I like to examine a story and see how it can be told a different way, or ask what it would be like from the point of view of a lesser character, or question the absurdities in it that everybody just glosses over. Snow White is a prime example of this. Nobody bats an eyelid that this young woman is living with seven men (to whom she is not related) in the forest. She’s a princess, but not one person in the kingdom comes looking for her when she disappears from the castle. She’s been used to a life of luxury, yet somehow knows how to cook and clean. She never goes shopping, yet she and the dwarves are all well-fed. When she ‘dies’, they don’t call a doctor or bury her, they put her in a display case, because that’s completely normal, isn’t it?
My first novel, Gingerbread Children, grew from the questions, ‘Why did the witch in Hansel and Gretel do what she did?’ and, ‘Were those two children the little angels they were made out to be?’ Of course they weren’t, but history is always written by the victors so it’s their story that is told, and the witch is the villain. I wanted to redress the balance a bit.
My second novel, Twicetime, was sparked by asking: ‘What if Frankenstein had been a woman? Why would she need to build herself a monster?’ And the answer was: ‘To protect her from another monster—her ex-husband.’
Who do you look to as a genre hero? Why?
Terry Pratchett, no question. He holds a mirror up for us to see ourselves in all our incarnations. He didn’t write characters, he wrote people (of whatever species) and a whole world that they lived in. They are us and our friends, relations, neighbours, work colleagues. Mort was the first book of his I came across, and until I read that, I had no idea that books could be written like that. It was exactly my kind of humour and the fantasy element was so appealing, it gave me the impetus to write something of my own.
Your Work
You’re stuck in an elevator for 60 seconds with that hero, and they want you to describe your work. Give us the pitch.
Reworkings of famous stories and fairytales for grown-ups. Whether it’s the aristocracy meeting the resurrected or the Systerhood of witches solving an ancient murderous riddle involving baking, there’s always one eye on the comedy. Think feisty women, bad and good men, castles, pubs, magic, science, love, heartbreak, friendship, exasperation, life-or-death battles, tea and biscuits, drunken cats and body-swapping. Strong female characters, no-nonsense sensibilities and dry Northern wit. Will suit fans of your own work, Sir Terry. Oh, and I write comedy poetry as well, sometimes about the work of the Grim Reaper (see image!).
What are you working on right now?
Just in the last couple of weeks I’ve published a book of fantasy short stories centred around the shop where characters from fairy tale and folklore go to get what they need for their particular story. For example, the first story is about what happens when the wicked queen from Snow White takes her magic mirror back to the shop because she says it’s stopped working. The book is called The Emporium, and it’s what people used to call ‘a slim volume’ so it’s ideal for when you just want a quick story to read with a cuppa.
Other works still to be finished are a novel (a twist on Sleeping Beauty), a book of parodies of famous poems and songs, and a dystopian novel being written in collaboration with cartoonist Jeremy Banx. I’m also co-host of a fortnightly Writing Club on the Louise Hulland Afternoon Show on BBC Local Radio across the Eastern Region, so I’m writing for that, too.
Thinking about all the stories/work you’ve done, what sticks out most in your mind? Why?
Many years ago, I had a (non-fantasy) short piece published in a women’s anthology, and on the strength of that I was contacted by an agent who told me, ‘If you ever write a novel, let me know.’ I wrote a novel, sent it to her and her response was, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, it’s not the sort of thing we deal with.’ But, her asking me to write a novel in the first place gave me much more confidence in my writing, because an agent must think you’re a good writer if they request your novel. And it just showed that you never know who’s reading anthologies.
In terms of an example from my writing: in Twicetime (as in Gingerbread Children) there are sections called ‘Notes on’ which I use both for world-building and as a lead-in to whatever action follows.
One of my favourite ‘Notes on’ from Twicetime is ‘Notes on Colour’. In this passage, pictured at the side, the reader gets a bit of world-building (the attitude of the people towards skin colour and money), they get a chuckle (‘only if it’s not the colour it’s supposed to be’), a bit of wisdom about judging people, a statement of fact, and it prepares the reader for the next part of the book to reveal what ‘something very unexpected’ is, which they know will involve someone’s skin, and possibly someone’s death.
Where and when do you create/are you at your most creative?
As long as I’ve got my laptop or a notebook and pen, I can write anywhere. I’ve even taken my laptop on holiday with me. I prefer the laptop because I can type quicker than I can write. I occasionally have a creative burst late in the evening, but that’s probably because I’ve already been working on something during the day. And a deadline is always a great motivator for creativity.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Stop talking about it and just get on with it.
What’s your writing soundtrack?
I don’t have one—it’d be too tempting to sing along and nobody needs to hear that.
The Quick-Fire Round
Sci-fi, fantasy or horror?
Fantasy
Quiet or loud?
For writing, quiet; for music, loud.
Dark or light?
Both
Strict lines or genre blend?
Genre blend
Awards or bestseller?
Awards. I was thrilled to it when Twicetime got through to the semi-finals of SPFBO9. And as we all know, not every bestseller is a good book.
Fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction
Poetry or prose?
Both
Plotter or pantser?
A mixture of the two
Reading or listening?
Reading
Notebook or computer?
Computer, preferably; notebook for when I can’t get to the laptop
Favourite SFFH book of all time?
Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Last book you read?
Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince. It’s his exploration of neurodivergence following his ADHD diagnosis at the age of fifty-two.
Any SFFH author on auto-buy?
Sadly, not at the moment because I’m too busy writing to actually read much.
Favourite podcast?
Not a podcast as such, but if I’m not writing (i.e. I’m doing housework or getting much-needed exercise to stop my backside fusing with the chair) I listen to plays and audiobooks from the excellent BBC Sounds. Just now I’m working my way through their Drama on 3 category. I heard a wonderful play the other day called Beethoven Can Hear You written by Timothy X Atack and starring Peter Capaldi and Sophie Stone, with music from deaf composer Lloyd Coleman. It’s about a deaf woman who travels back in time to meet Beethoven. Lush writing, powerful performances and wonderful music.
The Home Stretch
What’s the best thing about being part of the SFFH community?
The support that people give you. The joy of knowing you’re not alone, and that people won’t glaze over or smile pityingly when you wax lyrical about magic, dragons, witches and spells. The relief you get when you’ve found your tribe. The fact that the BFS gives writers opportunities to bring their work to a wider audience, and helps readers to find their new favourites.
Time to plug your stuff! Where can we find you and your work? What have you got coming up? Consider this your advertising space.
The website mccawmedia.co.uk is where you can read more about my books, and also read the beginning of Gingerbread Children or Twicetime, or the start of The Emporium for free. Try before you buy.
I’m on:
- Bluesky: @carolcarman.bsky.social (and also as @unmadealbumcovers.bsky.social, where I post photos that could have been used as album covers)
- Instagram: @carolcarmanauthor (and @unmadealbumcovers)
- Twitter/X: @CarolCarman
- Email: carol@mccawmedia.co.uk
The graphics below show something of what you can expect from my books. And if anybody’s in the mood for comedy poetry about death, there’s Sticky Ends (mentioned earlier).
My latest novel is The Emporium: Tales From No Ordinary Shop.
And I’d like to give a shout out to the illustrators of my books: Lisa Marie Damant for Gingerbread Children andTwicetime, and Jeremy Banx for Sticky Ends. My books wouldn’t be what they are without their talent and generosity. Here’s Lisa Marie’s illustration of Castle Stein’s laboratory which graces the back cover of Twicetime.
And here’s a photo of the man who makes all this possible, my husband Martin. This is the photo that started the Unmade Album Covers project.
Finally, can I say thank you to the BFS for this opportunity? Thank you, BFS, for having me as a guest.
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