Ask the Author: Monica Cafferky
Answered Questions (4)
Monica Cafferky
I'm thinking about my second novel, planning a few ideas. The characters are slowly forming and finding their voices. I know it will have a supernatural element, I'm just starting the research, and I know it will be set in the North - maybe in Whitby. Who needs another book set in London?? I could set my novels in the city, I did live in Clapham for a while, but I prefer the rugged intensity of the North, especially the coast.
And I'm always working on some journalism, I love the challenge of a deadline and the variety - plus working from home is fantastic. I used commute on the tube and every morning I promised myself, "One day, I'll write a novel and sit around in my PJs all day."
I did write a book, but I don't sit around in my dressing gown. My house is too cold.
And I'm always working on some journalism, I love the challenge of a deadline and the variety - plus working from home is fantastic. I used commute on the tube and every morning I promised myself, "One day, I'll write a novel and sit around in my PJs all day."
I did write a book, but I don't sit around in my dressing gown. My house is too cold.
Monica Cafferky
Creating a whole world in your mind that with the more layers you add the more real it becomes. I know Brigid Raven, Josh and the unstable Darkere from my debut novel THE WINTER'S SLEEP are not real; but I have a fondness for all of them, especially Margaret Swain.
I think Margaret is the person I'd most like to be when I'm "mature". She's feisty, strong and independent. Josh calls her a "mad old bat" but I think she has more backbone than him and she's kinder to Brigid.
I think Margaret is the person I'd most like to be when I'm "mature". She's feisty, strong and independent. Josh calls her a "mad old bat" but I think she has more backbone than him and she's kinder to Brigid.
Monica Cafferky
I'm a journalist so writer's block is not something I've ever encountered, thankfully. The deadline is the driving force to producing words, as a reporter you learn to write, edit and then let it go.
Monica Cafferky
A mixture of places: out walking the dog in the woods (this is where all my best ideas start), researching the supernatural (ghosts, near-death experiences, the other worlds), and of course, my imagination.
However, characters do tend to take on an energy of their own and you have to let them flow, but at the same time it's important to know when to say, "Hang on a minute, I can't have you doing, or saying, that because it doesn't fit with the plot. So shut up and let me write."
Of course, it helped growing up in a haunted house. Some of my childhood experiences have made their way into the novel, tweaked to fit, but it is a work of fiction.
However, characters do tend to take on an energy of their own and you have to let them flow, but at the same time it's important to know when to say, "Hang on a minute, I can't have you doing, or saying, that because it doesn't fit with the plot. So shut up and let me write."
Of course, it helped growing up in a haunted house. Some of my childhood experiences have made their way into the novel, tweaked to fit, but it is a work of fiction.
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