LG Thomson
Who are your favourite Scottish writers?
Robert Louis Stevenson – between Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson gave us two incredible mythologies, and then there is all the fabulous adventure of Kidnapped.
Armando Iannucci for the brilliance of The Thick of It.
Darren McGarvey for Poverty Safari – an excellent book.
Brian Limond (Limmy) for Limmy’s Show and his short story collections, Daft Wee Stories and That’s Your Lot. These are gifts that keep on giving.
John Gerard Fagan – Fish Town and Silent Riders of the Sea are two of the best books I’ve read in recent years.
What is your favourite Scottish novel or short story and why?
Silent Riders of the Sea by John Gerard Fagan is an incredible read. He has an exceptional command of language – it’s stripped back with not a wasted word yet packs an emotional punch that left me gasping as I turned page after page, hoping that all would turn out well for the protagonist. The last time I felt anything like that was when I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Interesting as Fagan’s book begins with a quotation from another McCarthy book, No Country For Old Men, which is also a favourite of mine.
I’d also like to mention Donald S Murray’s evocative and heart-breaking book about the Iolaire disaster, As the Women Lay Dreaming, and R.L. Stevenson’s short story, The Bottle Imp. I first read The Bottle Imp when I was 12, and it is still one of my favourite short stories of all time.
I’ve just realised that the high seas feature in all three.
What piece of writing of yours are you most proud of?
I’m not sure that I’d use the word ‘proud’, but writing my memoirs, Modernist Dreams Brutalist Nightmares and Bitter Fruit, as honestly as I did feels like an achievement. I’m also pretty pleased about how funny readers found both books. Getting to the point where I could access those levels of honesty and humour was a long and difficult road, but worth it.
What is your 274 Miles story about?
Family Circle is about a nightmare marriage that looks perfect from the outside.
Tell us about your writing process.
It’s a continually evolving situation. For Modernist Dreams Brutalist Nightmares and Bitter Fruit, it was about digging deep and writing creatively and honestly from the sore place. For novels like Boyle’s Law, it was about getting into Boyle’s head and viewing the world from his perspective. I loved writing from his POV and justifying all the awful things he did.
If you have one piece of writing advice, what would it be?
If all the time you can find in a day to write is ten minutes, then get focussed and write for ten minutes.
What are you working on at the moment?
I had a novel due out this autumn with Outcast Press, but after a period of consideration, I decided to step back from major writing projects to focus on art. Outcast were amazing, very supportive. I have no immediate plans to return to the novel, but it may well surge out of me in the future. In the meantime, my creative focus is on my art practice and on producing shorter pieces of writing. I have a wall covered in Post-it notes brimming with ideas that would be great to explore within the confines of short story writing. I was really excited to see the 274-word limit for this collection. I enjoy the discipline of working within those kinds of constraints.
How can readers connect with you and read your work?
My website includes links to my books and to some short stories that are available online, either to read or listen to as podcasts. You can also follow me on Instagram and X (I’m not very active on X these days but hanging on for a while).