It’s time for another Weekend Read post and this week I’m interviewing Clare Weze, author of the children’s mystery novel, Up Above the City. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s find out more about Clare and her latest book.
Blurb for Up Above the City
It’s the Christmas holidays, and Jake has nowhere else to go but to work with his mum in a London bank. But Jake notices things that other people miss.
Who is the girl he glimpsed in the attic room across the road? She’s clearly hiding, but is she trapped too? Does she need help?
If Jake tries to help her, what kind of people will put a spotlight on him?
Extract from Up Above the City
Now we’re going along a weird passageway full of material hanging from the walls – folds and folds of it. I don’t like it. Anything could be hiding behind those folds. Otherwise, what are they doing there? Who would do that, just hang stuff up like this and then leave it? It doesn’t look dusty. That means it probably hasn’t been abandoned. It’s there for a reason. And someone or something could be hiding in there. There’s room for lots of them. I start imagining I can hear murmuring. I can’t, but the thought is there now. In my head.
Buy Link: Amazon
Welcome to my blog, Clare.What inspired you to write this book?
Up Above the City is set in a bank. When I was 11, I had to go to work with my mum in the school holidays, and she worked in a bank on Oxford Street, London. I sat in the staff-room at the top of the building, drawing pictures and writing stories. This book is an adventure based on what didn’t happen to me during those holidays. I’ve always been attracted to empty buildings and their possibilities.
Strange things happen in my books, and this one is no exception. Writing for children gives you a gateway to viewing the world with fresh eyes. I’ve written this book for curious children who love listening in to adult conversations – as I did in that long-ago staff-room – peering into the subtext and finding wonders in our mysterious world.
It’s a story involving generations working together to help people without shelter. And it’s also a story about a miraculous, world-changing invention, one that sends my character, Jake, into paroxysms of excitement and terror.
It sounds fascinating, Clare. What advice would you give to other writers?
As mentioned above, I do like to take an event and write about what didn’t happen, or what almost happened. Rather than looking for that mind-blowing premise, it’s useful to take a small event and work it up into something bigger.
Any secret is a great ingredient. Also, write about the mistakes your characters make, as those can be hugely enjoyable, especially if they lead to backbreaking dilemmas.
The path to publication is different for everyone, but things changed for me when I submitted short fiction to online magazines and competitions. These help to get your name noticed.
Great advice, Clare. What are you writing at the moment?
I also write for adults, and I’m finishing a novel-in-short-stories focusing on one man as his life collides with those of several other characters. Readers aren’t always in the mood for the stop-start nature of short stories, where you’re constantly having to get to know new people, so I wanted to explore a revolving cast.
That’s an interesting concept, Clare. Has any author inspired you?
Philip Pullman inspires my writing for both adults and children. His fusion of science, philosophy and fantasy literally brings ideas together, and they seem to ferment in my imagination.
Diana Evans gives me insight into how to weave a satisfying kaleidoscope from characters and their conflicts. Her London backdrops are always believable.
And Rachel Cusk’s bravery inspires me. Lately, she’s thrown away the structure of the traditional novel and is constructing her own alternative. Her fascinating intellect remains, and that way of hers of seeming to communicate directly from her brain into mine.
Thanks so much for dropping by to talk to us today, Clare. Wishing you lots of success with your writing.
About Clare
Author bio
Clare Weze writes for both adults and children, and is the award-winning author of The Lightning Catcher, The Storm Swimmer, Up Above the City, Rollo’s Choice, The Violet Sea Snail and a co-author in Happy Here.
She grew up between London and Yorkshire, worked in the fields of biological sciences and hairdressing, and spent years surfing between science and literature, city and country, the cerebral and the practical. She has British and Nigerian heritage, andWeze is pronounced way-zay.
Author links
Website https://www.clareweze.com/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8927813.Clare_Weze
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/clarewezel/
More of Clare’s Books
Karen King 