Author Alice Fowler at Cranleigh Library

Karen Neville

Guildford inspiration for short story collection The Truth Has Arms and Legs

Event details

Award-winning local author Alice Fowler will be speaking at Cranleigh Library on March 20th from 6-7pm. Alice will discuss her collection of short stories, The Truth Has Arms and Legs, local inspiration and her path to publication. Tickets cost £3. Book at Cranleigh Library or email cranleigh.library@surreycc.gov.uk

Guildford’s Literary Legacy

Here she explains how Guildford has provided plenty of inspiration for her books, including new short story collection The Truth Has Arms And Legs.

For creative types, there’s something about Guildford… Lewis Carroll (the Rev Charles Dodgson) famously completed Alice Through the Looking Glass while staying with his sisters in the town. Comic novelist PG Wodehouse was born here (though he soon left for Hong Kong and, later, America). Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro lived in Guildford from the age of six:, recalling a land of puddles, squashed hedgehogs and branches scraping the roof of his double-decker bus.

Alice Fowler’s Inspiration

While I certainly don’t count myself among these literary greats, I too have drawn creative inspiration from living here. My debut short story collection, The Truth Has Arms And Legs – published in July and attracting great reviews – would never have been written without my love for Guildford and the nearby Surrey Hills.

Let me explain. When I arrived in Guildford ten years ago, a career as a print journalist meant the editing muscle in my brain was far too big and critical. As a writer, I was blocked.

Discovering the town’s rich history and landscapes changed all that. For writers, there’s a physical benefit in connecting with our neighbourhood: the link between the steps we take out walking, and the rhythm of our words.

My story Dancing in the Grass describes what happens when a woman’s search for wild orchids takes a sinister turn. It’s entirely fictional, but the germ of the idea certainly comes from the orchids I see on my frequent walks on Merrow Downs. Another prize-winning story, The Race, draws inspiration from local history. Three years ago, I chanced on a news feature about the gypsies (as they were called then) living at the Hurtwood, close to Peaslake, in the 1920s. Surrey County Council provided the community with a “school on wheels” and the uneasy relationship between the gypsies and villagers helped me find the “voice” for that story.

Developing Your Writing

For anyone interested in developing their own fiction writing skills, I warmly recommend creative writing classes. Surrey Adult Learning runs classes in Guildford and Woking, while the Guildford Institute offers weekly workshops. Attending and reading out one’s work, as well as hearing other writers read theirs, is an invaluable experience.

For myself, walking up Guildford’s wonderful granite-setted High Street, I find it hard not to imagine the people who once walked this way before me. My historical novel, currently under way, draws on the lives of two real-life characters in Victorian Guildford and reimagines them in unexpected ways.

Wherever you live – whether it’s history that inspires you or gritty urban life – dig deep into your local area. You’ll be surprised at the wealth of inspiration waiting to be found.