Newcastle University

Introduction

I'm a novelist, and I teach novel writing and creative writing theory at MA and PhD level. Can novel writing be taught? Well, that's one of the questions of creative writing theory.

Research Interests

My books can be described as "novels of ideas". I'm interested in the way that ideas can be represented (rather than simply reported) in fiction.

All my novels tend to be multi-stranded, so one of my main technical concerns is the issue of making multiple plotlines fit together in a satisfactory way - the aesthetic problem of unity in diversity.

An enduring theme in my novels is the idea of multiple realities. I first got into this through the "many worlds" view of quantum theory, but it harks back to Leibniz and Plato. This historical and cultural dimension is of interest to me: stories of parallel universes and alternate histories began to be written in the nineteenth century, before physicists had taken up the idea - why not sooner?

Other Expertise

I started out as a theoretical physicist, then I was a school teacher for a while, book reviewer, literary editor of a newspaper. Science plays a role in my novels, but so does philosophy, history, music - whatever I find interesting.

Current Work

During 2010 I am working on an AHRC-funded project, "Quantum Suicide: Walter Benjamin and the multiverse". This will look at Benjamin's interest in Louis-Auguste Blanqui, as manifested in the Arcades Project. I shall be exploring this creatively through the composition of a new novel.

Future Research

A major influence on all my novel writing has been music; this is how I conceive form and structure in my fiction. I plan to undertake a more formal academic investigation of the connections between music and narrative.

Postgraduate Supervision

I currently co-supervise three PhD novelists.

Projects

• Parallel Worlds: Literature and Science
  A series of talks, readings and coversations among leading writers on the intersection between literature and science.

• Crumey A. The Last Midgie On Earth. In: Kelly, S, ed. Headshook: Contemporary Novelists and Poets Writing on Scotland's Future. Edinburgh, UK: Hachette Scotland, 2009, pp.137-148.
• Crumey A. Water Of Life (short story commissioned by Glasgow Book Festival). Sunday Herald 2009, (February).