The Story of Before
Today I'm delighted to welcome Susan Stairs to WKDN. 'The Story of Before', her debut novel, is published today:
Q
Welcome, Susan - and congratulations on the publication of your debut novel.
How does it feel?
Thanks so much, Kate and thanks also for inviting me to contribute
to WKDN. Publication brings with it conflicting emotions. Excitement laced with
anxiety! But hopefully excitement will win out and the nerves will take a back
seat. It’s also a little surreal. I dreamed this day would come but for a long
time it was just that – a dream – so it’ll take a while for the reality of it
to sink in.
Q Can
you tell us about 'The Story of Before'? I love the title by the way - was it
always called this, or did you find coming up with the right title difficult?
Thanks! Everyone seems to love the title, which is
great to hear. No, it’s not the original title. After deliberating on many
titles while writing the novel, I eventually settled on one which I was happy
with. My agent wasn’t sure about it though, so we began coming up with alternatives. After many emails over many days, The Story
of Before was one we each came up with separately, so that was a good sign, and
we both really liked it.
Q
What's your publication story - is this the first novel you've written? How did
you get your publishing deal?
I’ve been writing for a long time - books on Irish art and artists – and also
two unfinished novels. I began The Story of Before while I was studying for my
MA in Creative Writing at University College Dublin and spent eighteen months
working on it after I graduated. When I finished it, I began submitting
chapters to agents and was fortunate to be offered representation by two of
them. I chose Lucy Luck of Lucy Luck Associates and she got me my publication
deal with Corvus Atlantic.
Q You
worked in the arts for a long time - how do you think this has informed your
writing? Do you write very visually?
I like to think I write visually. When I’m reading,
I must be able to imagine the setting, ‘see’ the characters etc if a book is to
engage me and I hope I’m able to achieve that in my own writing too. I was involved in the arts for a long time
– as a child, I was constantly drawing, I
studied Visual Communications at art college, opened an art gallery with my husband,
researched, wrote and published several books on Irish art – so I suppose it’s inevitable that all that
has found its way into my writing. I’m constantly amazed at the power of words
– how they can be used to conjure up imaginary worlds that are vibrant and
believable. When I’m writing, I like to think I’m painting a story with words.
Q At
WKDN we often talk about the constant juggling act between creative work and
family life. As a mother of four, what would your top tips be?
It’s different for everyone. I don’t think there’s
any magic formula or ‘best’ way to do it. You just have to find a way that
suits you, whether that be snatched half hours here and there, one full day a
week, or writing when the rest of the house sleeps. My youngest has just turned
18, so at this stage, I don’t have the demands of a very young family. But
while I was writing The Story of Before, two of my children were still at
school and I had to deal with all that that entails. When you’re writing at
home, you’ll find distractions everywhere you look, but you just have to try
and focus on the writing and not worry too much about keeping the house clean
etc. It isn’t easy when you have
dependents. There were many times I was in full flow but had to break off to
bring one child to football training, another to a medical appointment or
simply to go to the shops because there was no food in the house! If you want
it badly enough, you’ll find the time and whether it takes a year or five it
doesn’t matter. You get on with it, you keep going and one day you realise
you’ve actually written a novel.
