An interview with an author: Cressida McLaughlin, Part One

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down to interview romance author Cressida McLaughlin, where we discussed all things writing and books.

They say never meet your heroes, but I've done just that. If you know me, you know I always have a book on the go and stories in my head that I'm dying to write.

Well, I've found that being an aspiring author isn't always that easy, but it can be a good thing to sit and chat with other authors. And so, I interviewed one of my favourite writers, whose books I love.

Over Zoom, I interviewed the best-selling romance author, most famously known for her Cornish Cream Tea series, Cressida McLaughlin.

Cressida was so lovely to speak to, and I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to speak with her and that she gave up some of her time for me. We spoke about all things writing, her success and her career spanning almost a decade, as well as a fun game of Would You Rather.

If you haven't read any of Cressida's books before, have a read of the interview below and check out my review of The Once in a Blue Moon Guesthouse -- a standalone novel by Cressida.

My interview with Cressida McLaughlin

WriteWatchWork: How did you get into writing? Was becoming an author something you'd always dreamed of doing?

Cressida: I never really wanted to be an author when I started out. I always loved books and I've loved reading books since I was really young, but I never had that desire to write books myself.

I went to university in Norwich, the University of East Anglia, which has a really strong creative writing and literature programme. They made me do a unit in the first term, which was Creative Writing, and I was really angry about it because I just wanted to read books and write essays on them. I didn't want to write myself.

But when I left university, my first job was at Norfolk Adult Education, running the courses. I was an administrator behind those courses, and at the time, if you worked there, you could get a course free, you could do a term for free. So I thought, well I've got to take the opportunity, it's a really good perk. I couldn't think of what to do and in the end, I did Creative Writing. I did a term of it and at the end, I was completely hooked.

I loved writing. I loved all the little exercises and doing short stories and I decided at that point, I was just going to write a novel, I was going to get it published, that was it. That was going to be my new career. I think it took about six years and some courses and lots of rejections after that that I got my book deal. It was a really really long road, but it was something I sort of fell into.

I've always loved books but it was a while before I decided that writing them was something I wanted to do. I know loads of people wrote stories when they were little and I'm sure I did do that because I think all kids do. But I certainly don't remember writing stories as the bit I was excited about then.

But now, I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

WriteWatchWork: How did it feel to have your first book published? Did it change your approach to writing in any way?

Cressida: I think it does and that is one of the things that even as many books as I've written now, when you get that first copy of the book through the post with its beautiful cover, quotes on the back and everything, and you think that started as a little tiny idea in my brain, it's a huge moment.

I think I remember getting that first one through. My first book was a paperback, a Christmas book. It was called A Christmas Tail, and it was about a dog walker and it had little glitter snowflakes on the front -- it was a really beautiful paperback -- and I just remember thinking, I just couldn't believe that having gone into Waterstones and run my hands over all the lovely covers and thinking this is my book now.

I think it's just made me more determined because it's such a good feeling and it feels like such an achievement to hold a physical copy of something that you've created from scratch. It just reminds you what an amazing job it is to do. I think it's just made me more determined to keep going, to always try and get better with each new book and take it from there.

WriteWatchWork: Do you start with a character and then the plot when creating a book idea, or do you have the plot first?

Cressida: I think with every book it's different and quite often, I'll start with the idea of the main character, definitely, because I think you can't have a plot without characters to move that plot forward.

So quite often, I'll think of a character and I'll think of what I want their main problem to be or their goal, where they want to get to, what their issues are at the beginning, and where I want them at the end, and that kind of drives the plot.

But sometimes, I will come up with an idea and then I'll create the characters that would fit perfectly into that idea; so with The House of Birds and Butterflies, which is a book I've written that is set on a nature reserve, I came up with the idea because my husband and I often visit nature reserves. And with quite a lot of them, you have to go down this really long track that's not connected to the nature reserve, and I just thought: imagine moving somewhere like that and thinking it's going to be this beautiful isolated cottage and then you've got people driving past and walking past all the time.

So then the idea came that this guy would have moved into this cottage and the heroine works on the nature reserve and obviously, they clash because she's supposed to be bringing more visitors to it and he wants fewer visitors there.

So that was how that came up, so in that case it was the idea first, and then the characters developed from it. Also, with the Cornish ones, I knew to begin with that I really wanted to set a book in Cornwall, so then I thought what kind of little piece of Cornwall or what idea would I have, and then the characters came from that.

So every book is different, but you certainly can't have a plot unless you've got characters that will drive it forward.

WriteWatchWork: How long on average does it take to go from the initial book idea to the published copy?

Cressida: Usually, it would take me a couple of months to do the first draft and then there are several different editing stages. There's the structural edit, which is the big one. It's when my editor will read through my book and she will say there's some plot missing here or you should move this up or this bit of storyline isn't strong enough, so that's either a complete re-juggling of the book, or it can be smaller changes to certain storylines, and that will take a few weeks or a month.

Then there's the copy-editing stage, which is where someone else looks at it and they'll check it for continuity. So if I've got a scene on a Thursday and then the next scene is on a Tuesday but it's supposed to be the day after, they will pick those kind of errors up and I'll go through and do those.

And then there's a proofreading stage, which is once the book's been turned into the layout it's going to be in the paperback with all the chapter headings. I'll get that as a PDF document and I've got to go through it, and that's really to check for any errors that are still there like spelling mistakes, things like that. Then it goes off to be turned into a book.

So the process is very different for everyone and I know that some people take a year to do a first draft and some people, like me, take a couple of months, and it's just really different depending on what style of writer you are. But I would say probably for me, it's about nine months between starting a book and it being turned into the finished product.

If I think about this one I'm writing now, I've got a bit longer to do it. I started it in May and it's coming out in May, so that's a whole year, but I think that's also to allow for more publicity, so I'm hopefully going to get some proofs that go out to other authors and things. So it's a bit longer this time around, but in the past, it's probably been about nine months.

WriteWatchWork: How would you say you get yourself into the writing zone and also out of writer's block?

Cressida: I certainly have days where I'll sit down at my computer and I'll look at every single website on the Internet before I open my document and get on with it. But I'm quite lucky because I've got a really nice writing space, which is one of the bedrooms in our house. It's got a lovely desk and I like to light a candle and have a big cup of coffee. I'll put on some music really quietly in the background, usually without lyrics so kind of classical or mood music, and then open my document.

Cressida's Writing Space (Credit: @cressmclaughlin on Instagram)

And usually, if I even write a few words, then I'll get going. So sometimes if I don't even know what I'm writing, even though I've got a plan, sometimes you just think how will I start this chapter off, I'll just write a few random words like 'Hello computer' or something, and I think just the act of doing that will often put me in the zone and then I'll be able to continue with it.

And then sometimes, if I'm really stuck, I'll read through what I did the day before. I'll try not to change it because I like to write a first draft and then go back and improve it, but if I read through it then that will put me back into the story and I'll be able to crack on with it.

If I'm really stuck, if I just have no clue, then often I think it's best to walk away from the computer. I'll go for a walk around the block, have a cup of coffee in the garden or something, and just sometimes if you take yourself completely away from it, then you can come back and feel a bit fresher. So there are different tactics for different levels of stuckness, I'd say.

It's nice to have a little routine before you start, I think, to put you there, and I know some people love going and working in coffee shops because they like that sense of chaos around them or they can listen in to conversations and get inspiration from that. But I find, being in my office is just the best way to start.

WriteWatchWork: As an author who loves reading books, do you find that when reading you have an author's eye and are analysing other writer's styles? Or can you just relax and enjoy the read?

Cressida: Yeah, I think it's really difficult to not do a little bit of that. And I was saying to my husband just this morning, that I think with every book I read, it helps me become a better writer, even if it's a completely different genre, so if it's like really dark crime, you just kind of pick up ways in which a writer makes something really work --- a way of doing dialogue or a way of introducing setting --- and I think that maybe some people who don't like books think that must be really confusing to be reading and picking stuff up all the time.

But I think because now I've been writing for nearly a decade, that's sort of become the way that I read books, and it doesn't stop my enjoyment of the story at all. It just brings, I would say, extra layers to reading it. So, if I'm reading a really good romcom, I'll kind of think: 'Oh my God, the tension between the hero and heroine here is brilliant, how is the writer doing it?' I'll just be aware of that as I'm reading and pick things up and maybe sometimes make some notes that: 'They do this brilliantly because of this'.

So I think I'm always doing that, but I don't find now that I'm used to my brain doing it, that it spoils my enjoyment of reading at all. I kind of do them both simultaneously.

WriteWatchWork: I've seen on your social media that you like to read other genres, such as thrillers. Would you, or have you, ever tried your hand at another genre and what would it be?

Cressida: Okay, so part of me would love to write a thriller, but I just feel like my brain isn't geared up to that. The intricacies of having a plot where it's potentially possible for the reader to work out who did it, but also it's so well-crafted that there are lots of red herrings along the way.

The thought of doing that and planning something that complex, I just think, is really difficult. Also, lots of them involve lots of police procedures, and I have no clue about that, so that would involve speaking to a professional, and I'm just not sure that I'm cut out for something like that.

But I would love to write a ghost story. I love ghosts, I love supernatural, and I would love to write a really really creepy ghost story. And I think there would be some element of romance in it because that's my favourite thing. I think you could do that, you could have a couple go to a creepy old house and horrible things happen to them.

So that's something that I would love to do in the future, and in a couple of my books there have been some slightly ghostly storylines, but I've never full-on turned it into a ghost story; however, I think that's something that I would love to do at some point in the future.

York Ghost Merchants ghosts on Cressida's bookshelves (Credit: @cressmclaughlin on Instagram)

WriteWatchWork: I would definitely read your ghost story because I read The Cornish Cream Tea Summer with Estelle and then Audrey's ghost hunt in The Cornish Cream Tea Christmas. It was a really surprising element but it was good because it added to the tension and more layers to the plot.

Cressida: I'm glad you liked it. I have had some reviews saying some people hated that bit of the book like they weren't expecting that in their contemporary rom-com. But I think I made it fit quite well because often at Christmas you love sitting around the fire, and having a ghost story.

So it's been a bit of a Marmite thing. I wonder if I did it again whether I wrote a completely separate book that was focused on a ghost story and people knew they were getting that before they went into it. But I'm glad you like those elements because I love writing them.

WriteWatchWork: With that, how do you deal with both negative and positive reviews of your books?

Cressida: I used to read all of them, and I think that was a really bad idea. I do think that what you have to realise, and it is difficult because writing is such a personal thing, is that not everyone is going to love your book. There is nothing in the world that is universally loved by everyone, even the really really popular things, books that people go mad over like Fourth Wing and stuff, I'm sure that some people have read them and not liked them, so you have to remember not everything is for everyone and just be aware of that.

I have read some critical reviews where someone said something like there's too much time spent in the character's head and it's a bit slow and clunky in places. I will read those and I will take that on board and think, 'Ok, so maybe I need to be a bit more pacey with my plot'.

So I think some reviews with constructive criticism can be really useful, some just say 'I hate this book'. You are going to get those and I think you just have to build a better thick skin and say, 'I'm not going to read those'. If I see someone's put one star on Amazon, I just walk away, it wasn't for them. But other people like it, so it's fine.

And then the positive reviews, it's really really lovely to read those, but I tend not to go through Amazon or Goodreads and read them. But if someone on Instagram, for example, has tagged me in a review, then I'll always read that because they've taken the time to put up a post.

And touch wood, so far, I haven't been tagged in many bad reviews on Instagram, so on social media if someone's taken the time to do that, it's usually because they've loved it and want to share it. So I'll read those, comment and thank someone for taking the time.

If you enjoyed the first half of my interview with Cressida McLaughlin, stick around and read my next blog tomorrow where we talk all about Cressida's books and do a bookish game of Would You Rather.

Until tomorrow...