An interview with Meg Hutchinson

Pam Freeman, Project Leader, Literary Heritage - West Midlands, interviewed Meg Hutchinson in March 2002. She asked the author about her career and why she became an auhtor.

Pam: Tell me how you got started as a writer.

Meg: I moved to Shropshire in 1995, after retiring from teaching, but I found that after a busy lifetime of work and home life the writing bug simply wouldn't go away. When I moved from Wednesbury to Shropshire I threw out many finished, but unpublished, novels, somehow two books escaped the black bin-bags and when I came across them again my husband encouraged me to do something with all the work at last. I looked up literary agents in the Writers and artists yearbook and wrote to Judith Murdoch, outlining my work. She replied to my letter quickly, asking for sample chapters, and once I sent those, she was really excited and wanted to see more of my work. I had sent her chapters from a book I had written 12 years previously; it was in fact For the sake of the child. My agent was interested to see what I was also writing at the moment. This became Abel's daughter, and was published by Hodder as my first novel in 1996. It was quickly followed by the publication of For the sake of the child.

Pam: What was it like seeing your work in print at last?

Meg: Really exciting. My only sadness was that my parents hadn't lived to see it.

Pam: Your parents' deaths brought about a big turning point in your life, leading you back into education. Can you tell me how that came about?

Meg: My parents died within two years of one another but it was after my mother's death that I made a big change. I went back to work after my mother's funeral and straight into a row with the boss. He made a big fuss over a small portable radio we had playing, insisting we switch it off. I was working in light engineering in those days, and although I had always enjoyed it, at that point I just knew there had to be more to life. I felt bureaucracy had gone mad. The very same day I enrolled at our local college and began a period of study that went on for many years, covering many courses. I did eventually train as a teacher and taught for twenty-five years at a junior school.

Pam: You must have been extremely busy, what with studying, teaching, bringing up a family and still writing.

Meg: Yes, that's why I felt at such a loss once I retired. I still get withdrawal symptoms if I don't write everyday. My mind's working on a story all the time and as I write longhand I often write until my hand literally seizes up.

Pam: You're about to publish your second crime novel The seal under your name Margaret Astbury. What brought about the change of style?

Meg: I just wanted to try my hand at a new style of writing, but the origin of my first crime novel The hitch-hiker came from the second book that survived the black bin bags and the house move seven years ago. I re-read it and thought "Margaret, this book is good". The hitch-hiker was born, but with lots of new writing added as my style had changed so much. I've even been able to use some material from that original book in my new novel The seal as well.

Pam: You're now working on your twentieth novel, a new historical saga, what do you like about that era?

Meg: I just like writing about people and places in the Black Country about a hundred years ago. I feel happy in that era, I feel an affinity with that time. Maybe it stems from my mother's tales of her mother's life. My grandmother was the inspiration behind my novel Pit bank wench, as she had worked as a pit-bank wench. I like to get the locations and facts correct for the era but it comes more from within, than researching into local history.

Pam: With your recent move to Shropshire, do you find you live more of a rural life nowadays, leaving busy Wednesbury behind?

Meg: Not at all. I visit family and friends in Wednesbury and Walsall generally two or three times a week, so I'm always in the locality; giving talks, visiting people. I find that I'm able to let my mind work on the stories as I'm traveling about in the car (my husband drives me) but Shropshire gives me the peace and quiet to actually write the stories.

Pam: Meg, we look forward to reading your new novel The seal and I'm sure fans of your historical novels will be pleased to hear Hodder are planning to publish another two titles this year.