'I just love horror': Emerald Fennell on her first adult book Monsters

Call the Midwife actress and horror writer Emerald Fennell talks about her new book, Monsters, her love of the ‘darker side of humanity’ and her dreams of a ‘she-shed’...
Dark side: author Emerald Fennell
Lucia O'Connor McCarthy
Edwina Langley9 September 2015

What’s the story behind your first adult’s book Monsters?

Monsters is written from the point of view of this very macabre, lonely little girl. It was just one of those things I’d had in my head for years and really wanted to do.

Why horror?

I’ve always had a fascination with spooky things: ghosts and murders… the darker side of humanity.

You are mainly known for your children’s books, the Shiverton Hall series. Why did you think horror would work for children?

I loved all that stuff when I was a kid. When I was writing Shiverton I wanted to do something a bit like Point Horror – there are lots of amazing horror writers in England but far more in America. We’ve got quite an amazing horror background in this country, so it’s nice to [add to it].

What are your top three favourite horror books?

The short stories of both M.R. James and Roald Dahl, because with horror, short stories work so well. The best horror book (although it’s not quite ‘horror’) is Patricia Highsmith’s Deep Water. It’s like living in a nightmare. An innocent person makes one mistake, and that one mistake accumulates and accumulates and accumulates… I took a whole glut of her books on holiday once and it was a disaster. It was the least relaxing holiday – I was rigid with anxiety.

Part actress, part author: Emerald Fennell stars in Call the Midwife
Lucia O'Connor McCarthy

Do you read books or use a Kindle?

Both. Though increasingly books, because I don’t have a very good memory and I find reading on a Kindle makes me remember books less. I’m definitely not anti-Kindles though, like some people are, but I do like having books. If I won the lottery I’d spend it all on first editions, like Shakespeare Folios. ‘What’s this old thing? Only bloody Hamlet!’

Is your house filled with books?

Yes, too many – lots of piles. It’s encroaching on me a little, especially around my bed area. I’m trying to implement a system: to have things on my bedside table that I’m reading; things next to my bedside table ‘to read’, and things on the shelf that I’ve read. It’s not working at all. I have also colour-coordinated my bookshelf, which everyone takes the mickey out of because it makes it impossible to find anything. It only looked good for about ten minutes.

The book you wish you could have written…

Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains Of The Day. It’s so beautiful, so subtle, full of feeling – just magic. If I were to write anything other than what I do, I’d like it to be really different. He wrote it in four weeks... I mean, what’s the point for the rest of us? Thanks Ishiguro – for making us all feel terrible! I’ve got to re-read it...

And then watch the film, starring Anthony Hopkins…

Oh god, don’t talk about that! I once watched The Remains Of The Day, followed by Shadowlands [about author C.S. Lewis and his wife, Joy Gresham, also starring Anthony Hopkins]. Why?! It was a Sunday afternoon and I was eating loads of Haribo. Anthony Hopkins is absolutely perfect in the role of a man full of burning emotion that he can’t show…

How do you write – on a computer, laptop or pen and paper?

Laptop.

And where?

At home, on the kitchen table. My absolute dream would be to have a little hut. I was actually looking at huts today and I read an article where they started calling them ‘she sheds’ – like: sheds for ladies. I mean, it’s just a shed! Complete lunacy… but of course, I did get sucked into the idea of a ‘she shed’. They’re actually quite nice!

What have you got coming up?

I’m filming BBC’s Call The Midwife until November and I’m also writing a horror film. That’s what I’d really love to do next year – to get this film made. Because I just love horror so much.

Monsters by Emerald Fennell is published by Hot Key Books and is available to buy from bookshops for £7.99

Follow Edwina Langley on Twitter @EdwinaLangley

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