The author of Black Dog Summer shares a bit about her debut novel and her writing DOs and DON’Ts with GLAMOUR.
What’s your favourite place to write?
On the couch, with the doors open to the garden and a cat beside me.
Describe your latest book,
Gigi hides a dark secret about her mother’s recent murder.
Where did you get the idea for
I was inspired by the possibility that within the violent reality of the world we live in, when things seem at their worst, there’s hope for redemption and healing. I wanted this book to take the reader on a journey: through the dark and into a space where the light can find a way in.
This was your debut novel, what was the experience of writing your first full novel like?
Black Dog Summer is my first published novel, but not the first novel I’ve written. There are three others, and I guess writing them was sort of like ‘writing school’ for me, where I could practice and learn the craft of writing. I have to say that being published for the first time is one of the most exciting and extraordinary things to have happened in my life. So far…
Who’s been your most important influence?
As a book-a-holic, I’ve been inspired by loads of amazing authors, but J D Salinger has probably been the most influential. Since first reading Franny and Zooey I’ve longed for the ability to bring characters to startling life with a few spare sentences the way that Salinger did.
What’s your best cure for writer’s block?
I find that typing anything, even: “I don’t know what to write” helps break the block! It sounds odd, but it opens the channel for a conversation with myself, and that usually leads to the cause of the stickiness, and eventually, a possible solution.
What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
In his book, On Writing, Stephen King advises you never to tell anyone the story you want to write. If you talk about your story, you no longer need to write it, and without that urgency, the task is insurmountable
Do you type out your work right away, or does it have to go down on paper first?
I type faster than I write, so when I am coming up with ideas and jotting things down, I tend to do in on my computer. That way, my fingers have more chance of keeping up with my thoughts.
What’s your best advice for young authors hoping to get published?
Write. Finish your work. Then rewrite it again, you’ll be surprised by how much something you thought was ‘done’ can be improved upon when you take a second look.
Getting published was a hard slog for me, littered with disappointments and close calls, but I never let that stop me actually writing, and that probably kept me sane (sort of) and kept me going despite the knocks.
