For readers who haven’t (yet!) read your witty novel, can you tell us about it in one sentence?
A book about emotional baggage, a banana, and a bad situation tumbling into chaos as one woman continuously does the wrong thing whilst trying to make life right again.
Frances’ plan to tranquilise Elaine is so unexpected, and so unique! Do you have a knack of hatching illustrious, ambitious plans like Frances?
I am such a daydreamer, I hatch plans like these all the time! But the joy of writing is being able to see them play out, because if I acted out half the stuff I dreamed up, I'd probably be in prison by now!
Elaine and Frances meet in a bar, while Frances is drowning her sorrows. Have you ever met anyone – romantically or otherwise – while out on the town?
A guy once wrote a haiku on a napkin and dropped it in my lap as he walked by, with his number written on the back. I was young, and assumed he must be incredibly romantic, but unfortunately he was just incredibly pretentious. I was easily confused by the two back then.
Your novel is formed of a few anti-heroines. What inspires you to make these characters so interesting?
The bad sides of people are just so much more fun! We all have that part of us that is impish, naughty, or a downright devil. I like to see those sides in real life, especially in the most gentle and unassuming folk, and I certainly love to write them.
Finally, can you tell us why you think CWIP is important – what impact do you hope it may have of brilliant debut authors such as you?
CWIP embraces different styles of humor, which is wonderful for humble debut novelists such as myself. Humor often acts as a bridge in literature - to get to the nasty nitty-gritty - and it becomes the point of empathy between writer and reader. CWIP promotes this unity, allows women's voices to be heard, and encourages us to be bold, brave, and as zany and funny as we want to be.
If you could offer support we would love you to press the button below - so we can keep going!