‘The act of writing brings things out of you.’
Quick Fire Q&A with Catriona Child
At Luath we are starting a new series of quickfire Q&As with some of our authors.
This is to allow our audience to get to know our fantastic lineup of writers in an accessible way.
To start this off, we have invited Catriona Child, author of Fade Into You publishing March 2023, to answer these questions about her writing career and this upcoming book.
Join Steph Centola, our marketing assistant at Luath Press, as she explores these questions with Catriona.
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What would you say was your favourite thing about writing the book?
I’d probably say just that kind of nostalgia thing of going back into the 90s. And just listening to lots of music. I used to listen to my youth and I still listen to this now. But yeah, that sort of music side of it and reliving my youth that way, I guess.
How long was the book in the works?
It didn’t actually take too long.
This is the quickest book I’ve ever written. Actually, it was pretty much about 9 or 10 months from start to finish. It feels a bit strange and pretentious. But this one came quite easily. And it helped in lockdown just having time to write and not having to go anywhere.
It was the quickest one I’ve written. And the easiest one probably as well.
And is the finished book what you expected when you started writing it?
I’m trying to remember, at the start where it came from.
I had wanted to write a bit of a visitor’s book to start with because my gran and granddad had a bed and breakfast. Then I kept saying to my Dad, wheres the visitor book because I thought I would use it for inspiration. And my Dad’s still not found it.
I suppose in some ways, it is what I expected. And other ways it went off on its own little life as well.
So, you sort of knew the general themes of the book for a long time before you started it?
Yeah, I wanted to write about childhood friendships. And then I had a friend myself when I was that age who went to fight in the Iraq War. I’ve always had that in the background as well. And then because I’m just a bit obsessed with visitor books in the Airbnbs, etc. I like reading them. And I always wanted to write about that.
It all came together from those kinds of ideas.
It has that nostalgia factor. Was that the emotional reaction you want people to have or expect people to have to it?
I hope so.
I think the music that you consume, as well as books and things that you do as a teenager, they’re the ones that stay with you forever. And they’re the ones that you know all the words to and as you see. For example, when I was 16, or 17, I didn’t have much money, I just bought a handful of cassette tapes, or I would record other people’s albums and listen to the same ones over and over and over.
You would know all the words you know and which songs come next before it even starts. And, and that you still do even if you put it on, its like the sort of muscle memory you go back to that, that time and you can still remember all the words and things.
Even if your loved ones. I don’t think you’d have that same reaction that you have when you’re a teenager when it’s just as you see it as consumers. You feel like they’re just singing about my life.
I hope people will feel that same way.
What would people not know about the book just by reading it?
The band name, that Banny’s in is Strumore that was the name of the Bed and Breakfast that my grandparents used to own in Connell and the wee village.
The village is based on a fictionalised version of Connell. I’ve just got lots of happy memories of going to their bed and breakfast and running around the garden.
A personal touch. I love that. And finally, for the book-specific questions, why should people read this book?
Personally, I think its the best thing I’ve written.
I’ve not got a big ego, but I do think its the best thing I’ve written.
It’s about childhood friendships and first loves and I hope that will resonate with everybody and that they’ll remember what it’s like to be that age. That difficult transition time between an adult and a teenager when you’re not really sure where you are. I still don’t really know where I am, but it’s just navigating that process in life.
So, I hope that all people will enjoy it. Enjoy that and find something of themselves in it too.
And moving on to general questions. What is your favourite thing about being an author? I’m, sure there are many.
Oh goodness. I like that feeling of when you get an idea, and you’re so excited about it. You get that compulsion to write or when I’ve got something, I just have this kind of burning desire that I need to write it down.
I’ve always felt that way and I made sense of the world by writing it down. That’s my favourite bit, just getting outside of my head and onto the people. It just makes me make sense of things a bit more.
What inspired you to start writing books?
I think I’ve always written.
I remember writing as a kid I wrote silly stories. I wrote this story called The Dragons egg. I gave it to my Grandad and my Mum still has it somewhere. She has kept it all these years.
I think it’s just something that I’ve always done. I’ve always loved reading and I’ve always loved books. I think it’s that natural progression.
Sometimes if you love books you eventually think, ‘Oh, could I write my own one?’
I’ve always been writing away in the background.
It’s always been something that is there. It’s just as I said, it’s a compulsion that I’ve always had.
And from that, what would you say your favourite book was then as a child?
Oh, my goodness. Probably Watership Down. Actually. I think that’s still my favourite. I love Watership Down. And I don’t know, I always get something new from it whenever I read it. I’ve always just loved it. I don’t know what it is about it.
I feel like it has this weird, mystical element to it. There’s just so much in it. It’s hard to say why I like it so much. I’ve always read it from a kid.
So yeah, Watership Down, probably.
It’s always different, isn’t it? When you read something, again and get something totally new from it.
Is writer’s block ever a problem for you? And if so, how do you overcome it?
I don’t really believe in writer’s block. But I do certainly believe in not being able to write.
I think after I had my two children, I lost my writer’s mojo a bit. I just wasn’t writing at all, I just didn’t have time, and I just didn’t have that idea for what to write.
I think you just have to get down and just write, that’s the thing. Sometimes it’s really horrible. But I think the act of writing brings things out of you.
Im not sure I believe in writer’s block itself. But definitely, there is something there that stops you from writing. And I think you have to work through it. And just power through almost. Sometimes you hate what you’ve written. It’s just the worst thing ever, but you need to get through that bit to get to the good stuff.
So, do you ever keep a notebook or something for ideas? Or is it just something that comes to your head and you think, oh, gosh, I need to get that down?
Yeah, no, I do. I keep notebooks. Post-it notes. I’ve got hundreds of post-it notes all over the place. And then also, my phone. I was always more of a pen-and-paper person, but now I do use my phone just because it’s usually what I have to hand.
Then it’s about trying to get it all together. But that’s the problem. When I’m reading, it’s always a giant mess of scraps of paper and, and all sorts of things. And it’s about getting it intact.
In what ways have you changed as a writer since writing your first book?
I’ve gotten a lot older. When I first started writing I was in my 20s. Im now in my 40s. And I’ve got two children. I’m a bit more grown-up and I have a bit more life experience.
I’m not convinced that I could write Fade Into You back then, as well as I’ve written it now. And I think it’s just through that process of being older and looking back and that sense of time passing. And yeah, having my children and seeing how fast they grew up and then thinking of my childhood.
It’s just that part of that passage of time where we all wish we could slow down. I guess you’ve read more other authors and you just pick the stuff up as you go. It’s all a learning process.
What has been the best advice someone has given to you?
For writing, I think probably the best advice has been to read your work aloud. That’s the advice I always give other people because I think gives you a different perspective on how it sounds and the rhythm of it. You notice things, you know, as words are repeated too close together.
I always make sure to read it aloud at least once or twice so that I’ve got a feel for it.
And our final question, because obviously, the book has such a musical tie running all the way through it. What music do you like listening to or relaxing to?
Oh, it’s really difficult, depends on what I’m doing.
If Im writing, I tend to have maybe music on that I don’t really know because I started singing along otherwise, and I get distracted.
And whatever else I’m doing, if Im making dinner or if Im just in the house, I’ll put something on that I quite like singing along to. Im not sure.
It just depends on what mood I’m in. This morning on the bus I was listening to The Beths.
So, all the music within the book, is that something that you still listen to? Or is that more what you listened to as a teenager?
I think I always go back to that music.
I think there’s something comforting about it. And you can remember how you felt at that moment. I always go back, it’s all music that I love and I used to love.
So, it’s all kinds of music that means something to me that’s in there.