Fighting Prose Interview with Ash Oldfield!

Welcome to my in-depth writers series Fighting Prose. Where I talk to authors in the industry on what their process is like and what it takes for them to keep on creating, through all the odds.

Ash Oldfield

is my interview this week!

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing stories all my life, but it was not until 2010 that my husband convinced me to try to write stories that were fit for publication. I studied a writing course, then from 2012 started writing full time (while teaching in the evenings because bills need to be paid!).

If you've written several books, which is your favorite?

Heart of Dragons, the final book in my MG/YA trilogy about dragons, was the book I put the most of myself into. The book is so much more emotionally charged than the rest of the series, and writing it was a really cathartic process.

What's your favorite genre to read? Write?

I read a really wide range of genres and find I stick to one genre for a while before moving on the rest. I have just been reading the magical surrealism of Haruki Murakami, and the dystopian fiction of Kazuo Ishiguro. Ask me again in another month and I might say romance, or historical, or fantasy.
As for writing, my stories tend to lean towards the fantasy genre, but there is a lot of history thrown into my books as well.

How do you get in the mood to write?

Whenever I have a spare moment I cannot help but write - it's like a compulsion for me and something I am always in the mood for. If I need to feel a certain emotion for a scene I will listen to music to set the mood. When I had to write a breakup scene I listened to Adele until I was crying, when I had to write a battle scene I listened to Mozart.

How do your characters come together?

All of my stories have always started with a character walking fully formed into my head. It's as if they have always existed and I just haven't met them yet. Most of the time I know everything about them, including their name. The exception to this was my main character of Rachaya in The Rachaya Series. The character that walked into my head was her mother, Adara, and her friend Morhol. I wrote a lot of deleted scenes of Rachaya interacting with these two characters before I had a sense of who she was and what her motivations were.

How do you get your ideas?

I read a lot of mythology and history. This always gives me little nuggets of ideas that eventually draw together to form one big idea.

For a writer starting out what advice would you give them?

The advice that was given to me by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas was to read widely. If you think you read widely, then read wider. Consume art - watch arthouse movies, go to galleries. Consume stories in all their forms. My writing has seen its greatest improvements since I have taken on board this advice.

What is your dream writing location?

A small cottage in the mountains on a wintry day!

In reference to your books, what question do you get asked the most?

Whenever I get emails from children about my books they ask me why the character names are so difficult to say! It's funny to me because they are almost all real names. I even had a student called Rachaya, who was really chuffed when I named the character after her.

What do you think makes a good story?

I love a story that has beautifully written prose. Prose that makes you stop and sigh for how wonderful it is. Haruki Murakami and Laini Taylor both have that power over me and I wish I knew how they do it.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I always, always wanted to be a writer. When my aunty asked me at 10 what I wanted to be, and I said writer, my dad said: "No, she will be a lawyer like her cousin". The next Christmas my aunty sent me a lockable notebook with a message written inside to never give up on my dreams of writing a book. And here I am!