Top Girls: Abi talks to Yvette

Yvette Richardson is a writer whose debut novel we will be putting out.. sometime soon. Ish. It’s called The First Five Minutes. It’s about a woman who, having recorded every five minutes of her husband’s life (at his request/demand) finds unwanted secrets among her notes. Richardson’s darkly comic novella is set in the five minutes after the husband’s death. Here’s a snapshot of her chat with our very own, Abi Kaur-Jones…

ABI: So have we got a book yet?

YVETTE: Haha. Nearly.

ABI: It’s ok, Yve, we have faith.

YVETTE: Well that’s good to know.

ABI: Indeed. Where would be without faith?

YVETTE: Less war-ry?

ABI: Well quite. But anyway. Your novella. Our novella. How did it all start? Where did you get the idea?

YVETTE: Well it’s actually based on a true story. I forget when but sometime ago I read this article about a woman who was recording every five minutes, what her husband was doing or thinking. At his request. And she had agreed! I was incredulous. What an absurd waste of life! But I couldn’t stop thinking about this woman, about her relationship with her husband, about how the hell she had ended up doing this.

ABI: And initially you did a series of abstract paintings?

YVETTE: That’s right. You know I am really an artist but for the first time I started to think that I really wanted to tell this story as a linear story, not, sort of, conceptual. So I started writing.

ABI: Had you written much before?

YVETTE: Lots of academic and art articles, yes, but fiction? Not really. But I loved it. And it flowed out. And as I wrote, as I am writing, I realise how many modern themes this woman speaks of.

ABI: Such as?

Read Yvette’s answer tomorrow…

*again, few technical bugs this week. Blog posts ghost-posting themselves, removing all the info. Apols if this is the second time this missive has winged its way through the ether at you. We’ve also had a leak caused by some bizarre mishap. It’s tough at the top. HAPPY MONDAY!