Brought to Book: Viv Albertine on Cocteau, Ono, Austen and Catherine the Great’s horse

Songwriter and musician Viv Albertine was the guitarist in the hugely influential female punk band The Slits. A confidante of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, Viv was a key player in British punk culture. Alongside The Slits, she collaborated with numerous musicians, including Adrian Sherwood, before marking out a career in television and film production. After a hiatus of 25 years, Viv's first solo album, The Vermillion Border, was released in 2012 to great critical acclaim. Viv's memoir, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys, is published by Faber Social on June 5th, 2014.

What was the first book to make an impression on you?

Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau. I thought it was a heightened account of the power play that goes on in any relationship if you're not careful. Lovers, married, siblings. I especially love the scene where the brother, Paul, is falling asleep, exhausted by his sister's mind games and that's exactly the point she decides to give in and feeds him lobster, his favourite food, but he can't keep awake to enjoy it. I still think of this book nearly every day as I encounter people and their relationships.

What was your favourite book as a child?

Topsy and Tim. The drawings were very modern for the time, they were very simple and had thick black outlines. I've loved thick black outlines ever since.

And what is your favourite book or books now?

I can always go back to Jane Austen. Mansfield Park is full of wise aphorisms and relevant observations of people. I also re-read Proust; I love how he writes.

What is your favourite quotation?

“Feel the fear and do it anyway” springs to mind. Or “leap and the net will appear”. Both a bit new agey, from those sort of authors. Guru types. But I have to keep buoying myself up every day. It’s being self-employed and creative. Lonely old business.

Who is your favourite fictional character?

No wishy-washy, drippy girls and no blokes, probably clever schemers like the woman in Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn or Albertine in Proust, Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. I didn't have many role models or interesting women to get stirred up by until Yoko Ono came along.

Who is the most under-rated Irish author?

I don’t know. Probably a woman.

Which do you prefer – ebooks or the traditional print version?

Traditional, definitely. I like to smell a book before I start it, I fold over the pages, write comments in the margins, leave it on the bed next to my pillow when I fall asleep.

What is the most beautiful book you own?

My most beautiful books were ruined by a flood in my house, before that it was a signed book of surreal photographs of Vivien Leigh by Angus McBean.

Where and how do you write?

Kitchen table. Try to get to a place in my head where I’m writing something that excites, shocks or moves me. Otherwise I can’t be arsed.

What book changed the way you think about fiction?

Grapefruit by Yoko Ono. I was about 15 when I came across it at my friend's parents' house. She opened up my mind, better than drugs. Short sentences. Sort of surreal but also practical and direct. Concepts made playful and palatable. She showed me you can do anything and go anywhere in your head.

What is the most research you have done for a book?

None. Checked a few dates for my book but as it is a collection of events that are imprinted on my mind and emotions forever, whilst I wrote I could transport myself right back there, smell it and see it.

What book influenced you the most?

Grapefruit.

What book would you give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday?

Mine if she’s a girl. It’s a catalogue of mistakes, everyone of them with quite serious consequences. I write with young women in mind.

What book do you wish you had read when you were young?

I read a lot when I was young. All the obvious, all the greats, from Le Grand Meaulnes, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fear and Loathing, Catcher in the Rye, The Bell Jar, The Female Eunuch, Valley of the Dolls, The Feminine Mystique, Tom Wolfe. Then film took over for me. Film was so exciting in the '70s.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Don’t waffle. Be honest. Write so you’re ashamed. Edit it about 20 times, get another three professional people to edit it. Edit it another 10 times.

What weight do you give reviews?

If you can bear to read them – not right after publication, it will cripple you – they could have a nugget of truth in the criticism and it’s fantastic if the reviewer is observant, they can sometimes see themes and underlying currents that maybe you didn’t even see yourself.

Where do you see the publishing industry going?

No idea. I’m new to it.

What writing trends have struck you lately?

Writing in the present tense, which I like as the narrator or protagonist is less “all knowing” and stumbles through life not knowing what’s coming next, like real life. It takes a lot if restraint to write like this, in the moment.

What lessons have you learned about life from reading?

Were all basically the same: insecure, scared, self-conscious, wanting to be loved.

What has being a writer taught you?

Discipline.

Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Yoko Ono, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf.

What is the funniest scene you’ve read?

Can’t remember but it would be from an autobiography probably as I like comedy that makes you wince with recognition.

What is your favourite word?

I like words that begin with V. They are all very dynamic.

If you were to write a historical novel, which event or figure would be your subject?

“Catherine the Great: What it was like to Fuck a Horse” in the style of Proust. Very detailed.