James, what was your background - had you always wanted to be a writer?
I wanted to write from an early age, but I was never much of a finisher. I used to stuff journals and notebooks with story ideas, and beginnings of stories, but rarely take them through to fruition.

What prompted you to do creative writing at UEA?
I'd written one bad novel whilst at university and was trying to fit work on a second around the demands of a full-time job in advertising. I heard about the UEA course and thought it would be a great way to kick-start my self-discipline - as well as an opportunity to develop my writing skills in a structured environment, with deadlines.

Who taught you while you were on the course?
Michele Roberts and Ruby [Jill] Dawson. They were both wise teachers, who gave me well-considered advice not only about writing in general, but about what I was working on in particular - even when it wasn't necessarily always their cup of tea.

Can you describe how the teaching was structured?
One three-hour workshop a week for the writing part of the course, alongside two other modules - one called "Problems That Writers Face", which was extremely stimulating, and another on Postmodernism that introduced me to lots of great novels I might have taken a while to get round to reading otherwise. Then we had one-on-one tutorials during the summer term.

Were you working on The Amnesia Clinic at the time?
I worked exclusively on short stories for most of the first two terms, then started the novel in the second half of the year.

How long did the novel take you to complete?
About a year.

And what happened to those stories?
Two of them ended up in print - one in the UEA anthology and another in Zembla Magazine. One or two of the others might yet resurface somewhere...

Are you still writing short fiction?
Yes, in fact I'm having a new story published this month [September 2007] in an anthology called Sea Stories commissioned by the National Maritime Museum.

How would you describe your experience on the MA?
It was very liberating to go back to being a student again after four years spent working in London, and wonderful suddenly to be surrounded by like-minded people with similar aspirations. I would add that in my opinion I wouldn't have got nearly so much out of the course if I had enrolled on it fresh from undergraduate study: having a bit of real life under my belt before starting it was definitely a good thing - for me, at least - more to write about, apart from anything else.

What did you do after you completed your MA?
I worked freelance for a London ad agency for a few months whilst finishing The Amnesia Clinic. Then when I'd got it into shape I sent it to an agent. She took me on, and Harvill Secker bought the novel the April after I left UEA.

How have you found the experience of being published and reviewed and so on, that public side of being a writer?
Of course, it's very nice to see your book on the shelf and your name in print - particularly if you spent a long time hankering after those things beforehand. I enjoy reading from my work as well - and spouting on about it. With regard to reviews, I think that the minute you're in print in any capacity you put your head at the parapet, for better or worse, and you should be prepared for the fact that both good and bad things will be chucked at you. You shouldn't take either the praise or the criticism too seriously. I would be the first to admit that taking that advice isn't always easy.

What are you working on now?
I've almost finished another novel. It's set in Sao Paulo, and it's about food, and obsession, and helicopters. Spot of incest too.

Interview September 2007