5 Questions for Catherine Fox

November 2, 2018 Snehal Chavan

Continuing on with our #NaNoWriMo theme, we caught up with Catherine Fox and chatted about writing, books, and reading. 

1. What do you love about writing?

I love creating imaginary worlds and seeing what happens in them. I see novels as fiction laboratories, where I conduct my ‘What If’ experiments. I can run imaginary scenarios and see how the characters respond. It’s my way of finding out what I think about things.

2. Whose work do you look to for inspiration?

Inspiration comes from surprising places. I tend to follow a lead and hoover up all the works of one particular author. Recently that has been Elizabeth Strout and Diana Wynne Jones. Alongside novels, I read nonfiction that feels relevant or interesting—anything from Bible commentaries, to The Brief History of Time, to accounts of children’s experience during the Second World War. I also read poetry to learn how to be concise, and I revisit old favourites as a kind of intellectual comfort food.

3. What was your favourite book to read when you were little?

My very favourite was a novel by an American writer Elizabeth George Spear, called The Witch of Blackbird Pond. It was the first book I remember reading and being genuinely terrified that the heroine was really going to be killed. I didn't understand genre conventions at the age of 10, or I wouldn't have been so worried. I had to leave off reading at the most exciting part to go to Girls’ Brigade. If I can replicate that kind of page-turning quality in my own novels, I’ll know I’ve done my job well.

4. How do you stay motivated when writing can be challenging?

The bigger challenge would be to give up. Writing is not so much what I do, it’s how I am. Even when I’m not working on a specific project, I’m pondering. Pondering is writing. So is daydreaming. Writing is a lifelong habit, so feeling motivated is neither here nor there. Some days you simply have to sit down and start, then follow the line of words. Other days you need to leave well alone and go for a walk instead. Walking is also writing.

5. What advice do you give people who would like to write?

Write.