An Interview With Nick Quantrill (1/3) By Steve Rudd

(1/3), (2/3), (2/3).

Regular visitors to thisisUll.com should be familiar with the writing talents of Nick Quantrill, as he often contributes short stories to the site. His Complicity novella recently featured on the site, an exciting Crime Short that was unmistakably set in Hull and that featured a number of decidedly shady characters getting up to no good in and around various well-known city locations. Nick also writes articles and reviews for the site, and is a staunch supporter of Hull's exhilarating music scene. Here he chats to Steve Rudd about his motivation to write, his admiration for Ian Rankin, and what it is that so excites him about writing Crime stories, amongst a great many other things.

Hi Nick, how are tricks? I'm good thanks, Steve. As I type it's Friday afternoon, so I'm looking forward to the weekend!

For the uninitiated, you are a writer of short stories from Hull who is fast-gaining recognition and respect for your writing talents. How many years have you been writing and what provided the main inspiration for your creative urges to follow this trajectory? Essentially, I've only been writing crime fiction for a short period of time. I finished a six-year part-time degree last October, so that's freed up the time I need to knuckle down to it. Prior to that, I only dabbled with fiction due to a lack of time. Other than that, I've been writing reviews for thisisUll.com for a couple of years now. Before that I wrote occasionally for any website or fanzine that'd have me!

Outside of inspirations within the crime-fiction genre, I'm really just inspired by people who put their words into action and actually do something for themselves. Luckily, I learnt this lesson when flat-sharing a few years ago. My flat-mate, Paul, fronted a band called Lithium Joe who hammered their way through hundreds of gigs around the north of England and several records without a single nod to the industry. In fact, Paul continues to do so under the name of Joesolo. They taught me that it's pointless just sitting back, waiting for something to happen. You've got to stick your neck out and make it happen. Writing is maybe a tougher field to gain some recognition in, but I'm also really inspired by what people like local playwright Dave Windass at the Hull Truck and local author Robert Adams of Bitterne Books are doing.

You have written a series of novellas that are actually based in Hull. How do you decide which real-life locations to feature in your stories? With Complicity it was fairly easy. I wanted to set the story in the city centre as I was keen to explore what I'm seeing happen there. It's important to me that a story has something to say, and I think the regeneration of the city centre is something that should be looked at critically.

For instance, I wonder what will happen to Whitefriargate, once the St Stephen's development is complete? I assume that somebody will make a lot of money out of this work, and I wonder who those people are? Once I decided that I was going to attempt this, the locations fell into place quite quickly. Generally, it's always the story that comes first. I might have an inkling about where the story is going to happen, but it's something that I work on once I've got the idea in place. It's important to me that all my stories are set in Hull, as it's the city I know best. As a city it has its own unique character, and it's a character that I'm keen to explore.

Continued .... Next Page (2/3)

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