For unpublished writers, competitions are very important. They are a way to get your work in front of the relevant people - in some cases actual agents - and have your work receive some recognition and feedback. An award, and even a longlist or shortlist, can give you the confidence and ‘ammunition’ to query an agent in the future. All of which can move you towards publishing, if that is your goal.
We loved the watery setting of Magnella, and your depiction of a Renaissance-inspired Venice felt very real. When writing, are you a meticulous planner and stickler for facts, or do you find it liberating to create your own world?
I always want the reader to feel in the setting. After all, this is a novel’s greatest gift to its reader - escapism. But I also think reading fiction is more akin to dreaming than, say, a vacation. It's this queer aside from reality, more colourful, more dramatic, but still very much sourced from a place.
In Magnella, I was trying to create a dream Venice, a dream Renaissance, rather than an accurate reflection. I became a bit of a magpie, collecting scraps of history - anecdotes, ideas, images - and trying to build a wonderful nest.
I’m usually searching for some human element in all of this research. David Chambers' Venice: A Documentary History was a massive inspiration. It is a whole host of primary sources from Venice between the years 1450 and 1630. These sources are usually anecdotal - there’s a wonderful story about people gathering near the Rialto bridge to watch the burning of flour sacks after a merchant had fraudulently bulked them out with ash and chalk. That didn’t make it into the novel, but it is a good example of the images floating around my head.
The magnificent Magnella sits absolutely centre stage, and Alice and Ciara commented that “reading about a mother in a fantasy setting felt fresh”. Can you tell us more about what inspired you to write about this middle-aged matriarch and place her at the heart of your novel?
I am a big believer in following your curiosity as a writer, particularly those subjects or people you cannot help think about. Magnella was one such person. I feel she is alive in all the right ways, not retreating from life but hounding it, unafraid, radically responsible, and living with the view that everything is for the taking. In part, the novel’s voice springs from her, the sentences bending and warping to reflect her worldview. I have a notebook somewhere where I wrote that I wanted the novel to feel ‘flinty’ - and I think of Magnella in those terms: sharp, tough, ready to start fires.
It is easy to feel insane as a writer - you spend time, lots of time, with people who don’t exist. I feel it is important not to flinch from this insanity. You have to treat your characters as real people, to fool yourself first, so to speak. (And it is not so mad - after all, many of the real people in our lives are only memories or anecdotes; they do not exist to us in the typical fashion). There have been times when I wanted to give up on this novel, but always Magnella would arrive in my head and tell me I shouldn’t dare do such a thing, that I should stop complaining and get on with it. Which, writing here, does make me feel a little insane.
Finally, Magnella is a woman and as such, is a reflection of the women in my life. Determined, intelligent, practical. Like with the setting, I have simply magpied my way to a strong protagonist.
When is your favourite time of day to write, and are you quite disciplined or really easily distracted?
I write mostly in the mornings. In the winter, when it’s dark, it’s like you’re the only person in the world. In the summer, the dawn comes while you are writing. Both feel like paradise.
I have sand timers for thirty minutes and an hour. I usually turn one of these over and tell myself I have to write until it’s done. The majority of the time I write longhand because you can’t open extra tabs in a notebook, and I like the romance of it. All of this means I’m probably incredibly easy to distract, but have built sufficient scaffolding so it morphs into something resembling discipline.
How long did it take you to write Magnella, and how different from your first draft is the version that you sent in to the Caledonia Novel Award 2025?
It took a long time, primarily because I was inexperienced and made lots of mistakes along the way. I had an idea originally for a long fantasy novel - the sort with an expansive world, multiple perspectives, and enough pages to be an encumbrance. I started writing a prologue for it and that became a novella which became a novel. I think I had six main characters, with Magnella being one of them. However, this novel didn’t really meet the vision I had for it.
I then tried to write it as a guided tour of a museum, a history of Dax in 100 objects, but this again didn’t quite work. Then there was a version comprised of moments from an eclipse and a version told through primary sources, all of which kind of burnt out. And finally, I wrote it as it is now. Over those years of writing, the story has changed very little, but the way it’s told has changed massively. This final version took around a year or so. I think, through the various iterations, and writing lots of other things in between, I found my voice - so, in all, worth it.
Are you a member of a creative writing group? If so, did you find it helpful to share your work with other writers before submitting it?
I am a member of the RiverExeWriters Group. We meet fortnightly beneath the beams of a refectory room of an old priory. They are kind and supportive people. They have been a massive help during the process of writing this book, and I’m very thankful for their friendship and support, in writing and in life.
During a group, we take turns reading our work aloud, so you can feel from the atmosphere whether people are enjoying it or not, and then we give feedback. The feedback is always useful, even if you disagree with it. It’s also useful to have an audience, and to have your work validated in some way, for it not to be something you do all alone, like talking to yourself at length.
Which novelists have influenced you, and which novel - if any! - do you wish you’d written?
Lots! I am a big fan of Hilary Mantel, and can credit her for sparking an interest in historical fiction and ‘history-ish’ fantasy. I have a love of Irish literature, particularly Colm Toibin, John Banville, Kevin Barry and Edna O’Brien - I think there is a rhythm to the language of these authors that I try to emulate. I read The Edge Chronicles when I was a kid, and these novels convinced me to become a writer, so I think everything I do is trying to capture the magic I felt while exploring those worlds.
As for novels I wish I had written - it sounds trite and perhaps a little arrogant, but I don’t believe there is a novel I would like to have written other than my own. If you had me at gunpoint, I would probably pick The Voynich Manuscript or possibly Codex Seraphinianus - both so I could understand what they’re about.
Which debut novels have you enjoyed recently, and do you have any go-to recommendations?
I recently read A.K. Blakemore’s The Manningtree Witches which I thought was brilliant. It’s set during the early witch hunts and depicts the small village of Manningtree with absolute clarity and intimacy. Last year, I read Selby Wynn Schwartz's After Sappho, which is this kaleidoscopic exploration of women’s liberation in Italy and beyond. I think it’s a very different and perhaps a new kind of novel (akin to Labatut’s When We Cease to Understand the World or Luis Sagasti’s A Musical Offering). Finally, for something totally peculiar, I would recommend The Doloriad by Missouri Williams. This is a post-apocalyptic novel about this strange little family clinging to existence at the end of the world. It’s semi-gothic, weird, and told in a way which is totally different from anything else in the genre. I think it’s unforgettable.
And finally, what words of encouragement would you give to anyone thinking of entering the Caledonia Novel Award 2026?
Just do it. Doubt, unfortunately, is the price of admission when creating anything. I talked myself out of entering many times. I told myself that the novel wasn’t ready, that no one would be interested, that I would enter next year, when I had something, you know, that resembled a proper novel (whatever that means!). The truth is that you’ll never feel ready, so you may as well act as if you are.
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