Gervase Phinn Finn is a well known author who I had the opportunity to meet on his new book signing tour at Waterstones, Leicester. The book, The Little Village School, can be purchased online here. For further information on Gervase Phinn can be found on his website.
Could you tell me a bit about The Little Village School?
The Little Village School is a novel. It’s my first main adult novel. I’ve written other books but this is centred on a small village school in Dales. It’s is rundown; it’s losing pupils. And to the school comes a new head teacher, with a rather unusual appearance. She wears red shoes with silver heels and black stockings. And she transforms the whole school. It is a book that is observational in its humour. It’s not cutting edge humour; it’s about character and people. And the main character, Mrs. Divine, is a rather mysterious character because people don’t know much about her. So the novel traces or plots her first year in the school: The children; the teachers; the people in the village. So it’s in the genre of, I suppose, that kind of a book of James Herriot or Miss Read, which my readers, I have to say are generally the more mature people. But I’m here in Leicester signing books. So I’ll leave it at that.
How does this book compare to those of the Dales series, set in the same location?
The others are semi-autobiographical and In the Dales series I’m an itinerant, an inspector going into other schools. This one is not. It’s centred on one particular school and this is fiction. The other one was semi-autobiographical. A lot of the incidences and happenings in the Dale books, published by Penguin, are based on very real incidence, but this is fiction. It’s more imaginative.
What prompted this switch from non-fiction?
The idea come up from the mainly from the publishers, who said, “you’ve written a lot of non-fiction, but would you like to have a go at writing a fiction.... a fictional account.” So I was really asked to do it. And it has been a challenge, but it’s been quite interesting. So it really came from the publisher, that.
Much of your work is anecdotal, so could I just ask: How important is experiences when it comes to writing?
There’s a view that the Bronte’s were closeted away in some vicarage in Howarth. That they never saw anything or did anything and they had this brilliant imagination. Well that’s not true. They were quite widely travelled, who were very interested in people. And when they entered the house, Patrick Bronte, the father, invited many different people. I think, my view is, you have to be very observational. You have to have different experiences. That gives you the material for books. I can’t see how you can possibly write something unless you have a range of experiences. Although I do read an awful lot of books, a lot of books. And I always believe that on the back of reading is writing. Sometimes I get ideas for techniques from other writers, which is quite common.
Earlier you mentioned to a teacher, just starting her career, to always keep a notebook. Have you always known you were going to write books?
I think I’ve written 84 books, now in total. Not that does include: picture books; academic books; story books; short stories; plays; and editor collections. But since university I have always kept a notebook. And in it I record the people I’ve met, places I’ve been too, anything that could be used as material for writing. So, I’ve always done. So in a sense I have never suffered from writer’s block because I just look through the notes and the ideas there.
What originally made you want to become a teacher?
Well after O-levels, the old O-levels, you’re too young to remember O-Levels. They used to be O-levels and A-levels. I was going to be an accountant, a trading accountant. But I changed my mind at A-level cause of a teacher who inspired me. And it was she who had said: “You should be a teacher. You’d be a good teacher.” And I’m glad I did. I don’t think I would have been a very good accountant.
What are your backgrounds in teaching?
I taught for 15 years, and then became an advisor, a schools inspector. I still work in schools. I still teach children when I can. But I’ve done a theatre tour, just finished a one-man show and a now I’m on a book signing tour. So I have to fit that in when I can. But last week, I got a lot of letters from children in a local school, who had read my children’s book, and I was just passing, so I called in. And they were really excited, it was just lovely. And I just called in to say thank you for your letters.
Recently, well relatively recently, I think it was 2004 when you won the Speaker of the Year. What’s the relationship between your public speaking and writing?
I prefer speaking to writing. I’m a very garrulous, talkative person and I do enjoy talking. But the Speaker of the Year Award is given to, they come round and watch. Since I was about 25, I’ve done a lot of public speaking, often for the charities where I’m a patron. So that was an award, and I do enjoy talking... It’s much easier than writing.
So what’s next for you?
Well I have a picture book coming out next month. Because I write picture books as well. This is called: ‘What Am I?’ It’s a little picture book for children. I’ve got some children’s short stories and I’ve got another book with Hodder, which is a Christmas book, which I’m hoping they are going to do. Which are short stories and anecdotes about Christmas. And then I’ve got to think about the sequel to this book. Cause I’ve left this book on a kind of cliff-hanger.
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