Joe Dunthorne / Features / Untitled Books

When I was at UEA every other person was writing a novel.

Joe Dunthorne

Joe Dunthorne, literary chameleon and author of his enormously successful debut Submarine, takes a moment out from teaching, writing and performing to tell us how he writes.

Give me Armitage over Ashbery any day of the week.

Where are you right now?
On the train back to London, from Norwich, where I've been teaching.

How do you write?
According to a routine I started last week, I write when I wake up - about nine-ish - until lunch. During this time, I try to avoid checking emails or pissing around on the net. Then in the afternoon, I email and piss around on the net and edit the stuff I did that morning.

What keeps you writing?
I enjoy it.

Who do you write for?
I write for myself, and sometimes for my friends.

Do you discuss your work with anyone?
When I was at UEA every other person was writing a novel. You couldn't move for 'constructive criticism', which I liked. Now I'm in London I have to try harder to get feedback on my work. I go to my friends, many of whom are writers, and to my agent. I use some writing websites as well.

How do you know if your work is good?
There are two factors, I suppose. Firstly, is each sentence good? Which is easy enough to answer. Secondly, does the story work? This is more difficult.

Do you have any unwritten characters in mind?
I've got a few I'm mucking around with. One is a Polish gangster who suffers severe migraines.

Which book do you wish you'd written?
White Noise by Don De Lillo.

What is your literary guilty pleasure?
I like... mainstream poetry. Give me Armitage over Ashbery any day of the week.

Which writer made you want to write?
Dave Eggers.

Who's the most exciting author writing today?
Don't know. The Three Daves, maybe: Berman, Eggers, Foster Wallace.

If you weren't writing, you'd be ... ?
A pastry chef.

What next?
A poetry collection. Lots of gigs (okay... readings), especially a series of literary cabaret shows I'm running with some friends. The night's called Homework and it'll be more or less monthly (starting in April) at the Horse and Groom in Shoreditch. More prose, too.

Friday, 6 June, 2008