You’ve read our review of Angela Makholwa’s Black Widow Society in our December 2013 issue – her story about women trapped in emotionally or physically abusive relationships kept us captivated from start to finish. Now, read what the author herself has to say about her writing, her reading and what keeps her inspired.
GLAMOUR: How did the process of writing your second and third novels differ from writing your first?
Angela: I think all novels possess a life of their own from inception right to the end. Each one is influenced by different ideas, the space that the writer is in at the specific time of writing and just the general mood and atmosphere in the writer’s life.
My first novel was a great adventure – full of doubt and anticipation and the excitement that comes with the possibility of getting published.
I found myself a little bit more confident with the two subsequent books but my influences were very different from what they were when I first started.
All three of your novels are very different. How do you decide what to write about?
I’m largely influenced by what’s going on in both my personal space and in the broader environment within South Africa.
I’ve come to accept that I am a person of many sensibilities – especially when it comes to things that harm or endanger women and children. In a strange way Red Ink and Black Widow Society are both crime novels that deal with women as victims but with Red Ink there is a sense of a permanent, elusive threat to the female protagonist whereas with Black Widow Society the women come from emotionally and physically threatening situations but decide to become the perpetrators of violence in order to bring an end to the real or perceived threat in their lives.
How do you stay motivated when you’re writing a novel?
I experience my writing as very character-driven though many would argue that it’s plot driven –especially with regards to the books that lean towards the crime fiction genre.
Once I really get to know my characters, I become obsessed with them, even the ones whom I find irritating, menacing or just pathetic. They become like the oddball friend you can’t wait to meet up with because of the great conversations you’re guaranteed to have – that is what usually lures me back to the manuscript.
How do you balance writing and the rest of your life?
With great difficulty – I have far too much going on in my life: small kids, a husband, a business, friends. It really is a lot and I’d be lying if I said that it’s all effortless and perfectly harmonious but I would not have it any other way – somehow it all works out.
Where is your favourite place to write?
My study or in bed.
You went from being a journalist to being a novelist –
was it difficult to change your writing style accordingly?
It was not so much difficult is it was different. I actually enjoy writing as a novelist more than I ever did as journalist!
H
ow difficult is to separate the real subjects that inspire your stories from the fictional characters, and your own feelings from the story?
It sounds very clichéd but writing is a very cathartic experience and I use it to address my fears – I had an experience with a serial killer earlier in my writing career and I was once in an abusive relationship – these are themes that I deal with in Red Ink and, more recently, in Black Widow Society. Bringing these experiences to life through my writing makes them feel less threatening.
What are your five favourite novels?
The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald
Ways of dying by Zakes Mda
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Who is your favourite writer?
There are far too many to choose from, I feel it would be an injustice to name just one!
What is your favourite quote about books
?
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” This quote was spoken by Toni Morrison and it rings true of my own reasons for writing.
