An
Interview with Ollie Lambert
Can you tell us
a little bit about yourself?
1.
What
do you do when you are not writing?
When not writing I tend to write music. I actually got into poetry
through my song writing. I play the piano and ever since I got SoundCloud I
have been recording my piano compositions and uploading them to the site to get
feedback, much like my writing. But when I’m not writing music, or poetry, then
I’m either at school, playing scrabble, or sleeping.
2.
Do
you have a day job as well?
Well I’m at school, so no. My school life is busy and got busier last
year with my GCSEs. They are finished and I will get the results in August, but
the last two school years of my life will be busy too, with A-levels creeping
closer and closer.
3.
When
did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
I started writing poetry about a year ago. I realized that my song
writing was closely linked to some poetry writing I’d done, so I decided to try
and link my two skills together. It worked, as when I made an account on the
writing site Movellas, I received a lot of positive feedback and requests for
more. My poetry then grew from there. I haven’t actually completed a collection
yet, but am in the process of editing one, which will be published hopefully
before school starts up again.
4.
How
did you choose the genre you write on?
My song writing. I know it may sound cheesy, but music was really what
brought me into the world of writing. I wrote poems because of the lyrics to my
songs. I have tried other genres of course. I published a romance novel, which
was very well received, and a werewolf story, which was extremely popular, and
a few other adventure stories here and there, but none of them as well
responded to as my poetry. Also I found poetry a lot easier to write and it
felt more natural writing it. I guess I can thank my music for that.
5.
Where
did you get your ideas from?
For my upcoming book, I got the idea from a book of poems I have on my
shelf. I was flicking through one day, and found a lovely little poem about
smell, and things one can smell. It then dawned on me, why don’t I write a
collection of poems, about the senses. There are five senses, ten for each.
That is perfect! Or so I thought. It turned out in the writing process, that
writing ten poems about sight, taste, touch etc. was a bit too much to handle
and I rapidly ran out of things to write about. So I decided to write five on
each, giving me a collection of 25 poems. So really I suppose the whole idea
has stemmed from that poem I guess. Each individual poem though has its own
little story behind it. For example, one of them was written while sitting at
the dinning room table. During that time my mum was cooking. See if you can
spot which poem was written then in the collection!
6.
Do
you ever experience writer’s block?
This will sound silly, but no. For some reason I can never not write. If
I decide I have the time and want to write a poem, I’ll just sit down and write
a poem, there is never a time when I can’t write. (Unless I have to write poems
on one particular theme and I run out of things to write.)
7.
Do
you work with an outline or just write?
As far as outline is concerned, I normally have some kind of idea in my
head of what is going to come out onto the paper or computer screen before I
start writing. I set up a thing on Movellas called ‘The Poetry Challenge’,
where by people would set me challenges to write a poem with a particular
theme/title/idea etc. I got some really weird ones, but I have yet to be
beaten. So far I have managed to complete all requests. So in that instance, I
do have an outline but it isn’t self-generated. Obviously the poems from the poetry
challenge aren’t my best works. My best and most popular poetic pieces are
produced from ideas that are self-generated.
8.
Is
there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either by
growing up or as an adult?
I hate to say it, but I don’t really read much. I used to read the odd
children’s story, you know, Michael Morpurgo, Enid Blyton etc. But ever since
my love for poetry began, I have concentrated more on writing. I have a few
anthologies of poems on my bookshelf, which I do flick through now and again.
But if I’m honest I don’t really look at the author. So I guess I reel in
inspiration from the authors that are on my shelf. But there is no one in
particular that has influenced me.
9.
Can you tell me about your challenges in
getting your first book published?
Well I can tell you about the challenged I’ve had so far. I think the
most difficult part of publishing for anyone, especially people publishing his
or her first book, is getting known. It is a really hard business to break into,
as most people tend to purchase books by people they have read before. I am
trying to make myself known, and have published some poems up on the Internet
for everyone to see so they can get a taste of my writing. I just hope it is enough
to get people to by my collection.
10.
If you had to go back and do it all over, is
there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?
So far I am really enjoying the experience, and it has been great for my
social media. My fan base has grown hugely even just over the last few days. I
think the thing I’m going to worry about the most, and perhaps regret is the
pricing, but I think it is a reasonable price to ask for what I am offering.
11.
How do you market your work? What avenues have
you found to work best for your genre?
Marketing my book is almost more time consuming that writing it. It
takes a lot of hard work. I have done the usual things like getting on social
media sites and getting to know lots of writers online. As far as for my
specific genre is concerned, it’s difficult. Poetry, I believe, isn’t in demand
as much as other genres. I have found that people seem to by their favourite
genres, while poetry is something that everyone enjoys, perhaps not so many
people think of it as their favourite. When it comes to marketing poetry collections,
I suppose the trick is to find where your target market is hiding online, and
get in touch with them. It is very easy to find loads of readers and writers on
the web, however who’s to say they are all willing to buy a collection of
poetry?
12.
Have you written a book you love that you have
not been able to get published?
Well I’m still very young so that hasn’t happened to me yet. Probably
because this is the first time I’ve considered trying to publish a collection
of my poems, however I’m sure that situation will occur somewhere further down
the line.
13.
Can
you tell us about your upcoming book?
Ah yes the upcoming book. Well this will be a collection of poems about
the senses, five poems for each sense. I have tried to vary the poems quite a
bit, because I find when you are writing lots of poems on such a specific theme
(e.g taste) they can get rather repetitive. So I have varied the poems through
structure, rhyme schemes, plot etc. The upcoming book will be my first
publication, and I am hoping to get a good response from the people I have made
contact with online. If its popular then of course I shall write many more
collections, but if this one doesn’t work, then I may try again or I may return
to the writing sites. Who knows!
14.
Is anything in your book based on real life
experiences or purely all imagination?
Well as I said earlier, the inspiration from my book has come from
various activities in everyday life. For example, when I sit down at the end of
the day to write a poem, I will find that the result will normally be based on
something that has happened that day. So in the case of my book, I have been
reflecting upon the senses and feelings that I have felt throughout the day.
15.
What was your favourite chapter (or part) to
write and why?
Out of all the senses, I’d have to say that the easiest was taste.
Because there are all different types of food to write about and even some
things that aren’t food that you can write about, so I’d say that has been the
easiest. The hardest part was touch. I found this chapter very limiting and it
was difficult to vary the poems. My favourite one however was sound, because
with this category I was able to turn to my musical life and write about song,
music as well as chatter, and other various sounds.
16.
How did you come up with the title?
The title I was very lucky to
stumble upon. I didn’t want to go for anything boring like ‘Ollie’s big
book of poems’. I wanted something unique, different and something no one else
would have used before. To be honest it was quite by chance that I stumbled
across ‘Quintessensual’. I think it is a title that you either hate or you
love. Lets hope the latter. I just hope that people notice the relation between
‘Quintessential’ and ‘Sensual/Senses’.
17.
What project are you working on now?
Well currently I am working on ‘Quintessensual’. It is just going
through the final stages of editing and then its time to publish! Which will be
very exciting!
18.
Will you have a new book coming out soon?
I hope to have ‘Quintessensual’ out very soon, hopefully early August.
But because this is my first time publishing, it is of course possible that I
have misjudged timings.
19.
Are there certain characters you would like to
go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
I have written a lot of nature poetry and enjoy that particular genre,
so I might make that my next project if this one works out. However I’m aware
that this is already a popular theme amongst writers and it would be even
harder to get noticed. But if my first book is a success, then of course I will
try another book, and maybe I’ll be daring enough to write a collection of
nature poems.
20.
What has been the toughest criticism given to
you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
The toughest criticism I get on my work probably comes form my Granddad.
He writes a vast amount of poetry as a hobby. He has been published in his
local paper and been writing his own poetry for years so knows what he is
talking about. He never fails to find something wrong with my work.
21.
Do you have any advice to give to aspiring
writers?
I know that everyone probably says it, but I feel I should reiterate it.
Don’t give up. You must be patient and prepared for rejection when it comes to
writing. The thing with writing is it is largely a matter of preference.
Someone can love something, while another person hates it, so you must be
prepared for the haters. Also write what you love. I love writing poetry, and although
it isn’t in particularly high demand at the moment, I still write it! If you
try and force yourself to write popular genres it simply won’t work, writing
must be natural.
22.
Is
there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
You mean if I have any readers and fans. Haha. I would like to ask you
to keep an eye out for me. Especially when my collection is published. Yes I’m
young, and yes I haven’t been in this business as long as other people, but
that doesn’t mean I don’t have something worth sharing. Please help me share my
poems. Spread the word. Spread Ollie Lambert!
23.
Ollie I know that you write and compose music,
but could you let us know how all this came about, who inspired you, who is an
inspiration?
I wouldn’t be musical at all if I hadn’t been a chorister in Canterbury
Cathedral. Before then, my dad taught me a bit of piano and I could just about
play Mary had a little lamb, which was the extent of my musicality. We saw the
advert for young boys to apply to become choristers and decided there was
nothing to lose giving it a try. So I went for an audition, and I don’t know, I
guess they must have seen something in me, a hidden talent of some sort. Anyway
I became a chorister and had a musical education second to none. At that age,
there is no better musical education you could ask for, I guarantee. I have
come out the other end in love with music, wishing to pursue a career in film
score writing and playing a handful of instruments. My choir master, it has to
be said was phenomenal, and I suppose thinking about it, if it wasn’t for him
accepting me all those years ago, then I wouldn’t have become musical, and I
wouldn’t have discovered song-writing, and I wouldn’t have discovered poetry. I
don’t know where or what I’d be right now if I hadn’t become a chorister.
Ollie if you could insert a photo of yourself in this
questionnaire, any web links where your books can be purchased with a cover
image which helps potential buyers. Your facebook page link, Movella and any
other links that would be interesting and vital to readers
My book isn’t published yet so isn’t available for
purchase yet… that’s the problem…
Movellas and Wattpad are where my poetry is featured.
Well here are all my links:
