He exploded onto the literary scene with Trainspotting in 1993, and has been proudly in our faces ever since. Now Irvine Welsh is back with his 13th novel, The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, his first set entirely in his adopted home of America and which according to the Observer pokes "at the caprice of modern media culture".
At the Sydney Writers' festival this week to talk not only about that book but participate in a session on humour, debauchery and manners, here's your chance to put a question to one of the most controversial and distinctive writers of our times. Welsh will be live on theguardian.com at 1pm on Thursday, AEST. (That's 4am in the UK – stay up!)
Whether you want to quiz him about sex, drugs, swearing or why he swopped Scotland for Miami – or anything else at all – please post your questions below.
The Government don't really care that much about Scotland, but are terrified that people in England will then say; no house of lords, city of London investment bankers, public school elites in the system of government, we'll have some of that!
I'd like the think the arts would have a higher profile in an indy Scotland, but that artists would be the sternest critics of that Government.
It's all down to John Hodge who would be doing the screenplay. I'd never interfere by telling him that he has to include the Forrester character and have him shagging tons of fit young women. I wouldn't even think it.
Is the scene in Porno where Spud witnesses the abuse of the woman with shit in her tights, the most brutal you have written?
I love your work though that was tough to get through!
I'm not sure. You don't really think about them in that way while you're writing them. The rape scene in Marabou Stork Nightmares was brutal, but I only recognised it as such when I saw it performed on the stage. Before that it was just words on a page.
For a while after reading Filth I couldn't read your work anymore. I felt degraded and filthy after reading it. Much as I love your work, for me, you went too far with that book. I'm curious about what knowledge understanding or experiences gave you the insights to write these characters? Do you have any regrets for giving "life" to such screwed-up types ?
I'm sorry you felt like that Tamzin. I know that people internalise these things differently and the character was repellent and on a spiral which was stripping him of his humanity. I'm interested in people when they are having a bad time, and the mechanisms by which we compound our problems with bad decision making. I think people can forgive darkness if they know the characters are groping for the light switch, so I don't regret bringing them to life.
So much to ask, but where to begin..
Around the time that the Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs' was published, there was an interview shown on Newsnight Review in that you mentioned that David Cameron would make a good PM. However, following the death of your friend Paul Reekie, following a letter on benefit cuts. Obviously, he wasn't the first as many others have taken their lives, or made homeless following the introduction of the bedroom tax.
Looking back, or even since the benefit changes, do you support or regret what was said back in 2006. Also, if Trainspotting were to be written today, would it make a harsher read?
Many thanks for your time
I think the Cameron thing was basically a wind up from one of my pals at the Telegraph. I think I actually said something like 'he can't be worse than Blair' which was taken as an endorsement of him. He probably is worse, though it's not an important distinction.
I think Trainspotting probably would be harsher today. It was about the first generation of the post war era who had experienced a zero employment economy, we've had another two since who've known nothing else.
Ok, as prompted, why did you swap Scotland for Miami?
Aren't you worried of losing what made you you? Or of becoming just another writer in exile a la mode... don't you want to be in the thick of it now?
ps. great reading at Hackney Empire in the 90s...
I'm in Edinburgh for about 3 months in the year, which is probably 2 more than I'm in usually in Miami as I'm mainly based in Chicago. Left Scotland for Chicago, but via Dublin, Amsterdam, San Francisco and London, and have also left most of those places for Edinburgh. I think it's swings and roundabouts for a writer; what you lose from not being fully immersed, you gain from the perspective of distance and vice-versa.
Its said that writing a book is like having a child ... there is the gestation period, the time of growth, and then, finally - you just want the thing OUT! I suggest that once it's out - the relationship continues... so my question is: from the premise of a 'relationship' with your work: When do you love it most and least?
The best thing is having the freedom of the blank page and creating scenarios and characters and pulling it all together. The worst thing is the constant revisions to make it read okay.
How do you view Scotland and Britain now that you don't live there - has it changed your perception?
Are you happy with your books after you've finished them and they've been published, or do you always think you can write a better one?
You always think that where you come from is mundane. When you live abroad you come to see it as weird and exotic.
You're never satisfied, you can always do better.
The publishing world is so risk averse now, unless you are a celebrity chef or a footballer, you are more likely to not get a deal. Would you have self published today?
Also who do I have to kill to get you a copy of my book (that is banned in three countries due to its bad taste humour)?
I probably would have, for the reasons you say. Nobody would publish Trainspotting today.
Probably my publicist at Random House.
Hi Irvine! Thanks for taking part in this webchat.
Comedy is a key component of your novels. Do you set out to write a "funny story"? Or, does the comedy emerge from the characters?
That links to my second question. Do you do a detailed outline before you write your first draft?
Thanks again for your time and thoughts.
No worries mate.
The comedy, like the drama, should always come from the characters.
Sometimes I'll write out an outline, other times I'll just fire in, then do the outline once I've got stuff down.
There's one of they new gastro-pub type things on Duke Street just along from the Marksman and Foot of the Walk and what have you. They have a dish called Eggs Irvine Welsh or something and it was rank, nae Tennants either. If there was something in Leith (or anywhere) you would be proud to put your name to, what would it be?
The haggis Burritos at Los Cardos in Leith Walk. They have ruined me for burritos in the USA.
Louis Ferdinand Celine . . . what do you think of his work? Have you read much of his stuff? If so, did you read him before you got published?
Joyce? Are you much into his prose?
Where else can we go to find great vernacular prose in English or any language?
Oh yes - And you had any brandy lately? What are you thoughts of buprenorphine? A god-send?
I only got into him after I was compared to him; hadn't read him before.
Yes, I'm a bit of a Joyce anorak.
Niall Griffiths.
I'm not a brandy fan. Frangelica is my after dinner digestive.
Hi Irvine,
Thanks for your time.
I think James Kelman's work is as important as James Joyce's. He has developed narrative styles that explore working class patterns of speech: idiomatic; often internalised. Original! How much has Kelman influenced your writing and in what ways?
I was blown away when I read the Bus Conductor Hines. It was very empowering to realise you could write like that.
1. Will you suck my cock for a deep fried mars bar? ( it's a bit cold and soggy, mind )
2. As a concise insult, has "tube" ever been bettered, and if so, what is your alternative?
3. Do you think I should have played it cool, and asked question 2 before question 1?
4. If you called my bluff, and answered question 1; "yes", would you be satisfied with a deep fried mars bar? ( I'd consider giving it a quick re-fry )
5. Do you agree that 5 is the greatest number in the universe?
- Throw in a can of Irn Bru and we have a deal.
- Jambo
- No, you're doing okay
- See 1.
- Five will never be six, or seven.
6. If on first meeting, someone is a bit fucking odd, do you easily forgive and forget?
A bit more forgiving as I get older, but also a bit less indulgent.
Ahem, sorry about the above Mr Welsh, a beer or two and I'm a right gobshite.
Really enjoyed "Glue", it seemed a bit more gentle than some of your work, though it's a few years since I read it. And thought Porno was very funny, any more from Begbie and co. in the pipeline?
Yes. I'll write more about those characters, but probably not all together, as they would be (sadly) having separate adventures.
Mr Welsh :D
How do the Americanians take to your colourful language? Have you had to tone it down since moving to the land of the free?
How do you find the local brand of socialism in Miami?
Thanks for the amazing stories.
Jamie
Thankfully nobody can understand a word I say.
There's a big protectionist eco thing going on there, but they would probably be a wee bit shy about using the S word.
Ta
Hi, Irvine! Thanks for taking part in this webchat.
How would you explain the dialect in Trainspotting and your novels? Is it a strategy to display a real social environment? Is it a question of humor as well? I am writing an essay about dialect in your novels and I would like to know your opinion.
Thanks a lot.
I tried to write Trainspotting in standard English but it sounded ludicrous and pretentious when I read it back. It was mainly an attempt to get the spirit of the characters and place into the fiction. The humour comes from the characters and the positions they find themselves in.
It feels absolutely fucking brilliant mate.
I forget the characters name but Spud getting a Joe McBride off that famous singer in Skag Boys was a particular highlight of the book for me. Is the singer woman based on any real person and are you able to name them if so?
The other thing that sticks in my mind is Rents' description of the sea being like a massive, wavey Cabbage top when he was tripping on a train journey. Hope I remember that right.
I can't really answer the first question as it would be ungentlemanly.
Yes, I think you've recalled that one right.
I enjoy your books even though they do contain some of the biggest scumbags in literature such as Begbie and Bruce Robertson. Out of all the characters you have created are there some you despise and would you like to meet any of them in a dark alleyway?
For someone who enjoys your work are there any other contemporary authors you would recommend?
Looking forward to The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, if the title is anything to go by I'm expecting a family friendly romp about people being nice to each other and the importance of community spirit.
I don't think you really consider whether you like or dislike them. It's more about trying to understand their psychology. I think you need a certain level of both engagement and detachment from them to make them work on the page.
Alan Warner, John King, Niall Griffiths.
You won't be disappointed.
Weird, only this week I said, 'I'd really like to ask Irvine Welsh ...' and then I see this opportunity.
I'm reading "Skagboys" at the moment (and love it as much as the other two) and I still finding Begbie about the most terrifying character I've ever come across in literature; probably because he is too much like someone I know.
So the question I wanted to ask is, 'Was Begbie actually inspired by one particular person or just a "type"?' Not original but I was curious. Ta
I think there are about three people who I can recognise certain aspects of that character in. But I don't really base any character on one person, more of a type, or a mindset.
Welshie! Australia & specifically Sydney pop up every so slightly in many of your books. Even just a single reference or two. Out of all the cities in the world, how does Sydney end up making the cut?
Sydney is quite a magical place; it can also evoke other places I've been, like London, San Fran, LA and even Edinburgh.
Hiyah Irvine,
Nice win this morning eh !
Do you fancy a pint with some ay the Sydney Hibs fans whilst yer here?
Such a relief.
Had a pint with a couple of them last night. One of my best mates moved here twenty five years ago.
One thing that I particularly enjoyed in Porno was the way you wrote in the first person for about five different characters, including one woman.
What really intrigued me and set me on edge was the chilling way you seem to get inside a psycopathic mind such as Begbie. It feels so chilling and realistic. Now, I'm assuming you're not like Francois, so how do you manage to get inside his mind to create that incredibly realistic effect?
Thanks.
I think you try to find something that evokes the character to you; it could be something they say, or a set of actions or attitudes expressed. These help you find your inner Begbie. I think we probably all have one.
What do you think about the role the UK government has played in the Scottish independence debate?
If Scotland does become independent, how do you think this will affect the arts?