Q&A with Claire Askew
Claire Askew is a relative newcomer to the Tartan Noir field but she hit the ground running by winning the Mcllvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Debut for her novel ‘All the Hidden Truths’ and it was well deserved! It was a stunning debut book based around a shooting at a local college in Edinburgh. This was then followed up with ‘What You Pay For’ which was again shortlisted for a Mcllvanney award but also a CWA award. Her next book is out in summer and it will definitely be getting a place in my reading list!
Claire is also a stunning poet and a great advocate for feminism and body positivity - follow her on instagram as she is ace - @one.night.stanzas! She is one of those authors who are lovely to approach and she just comes across as being a cool person that I think I would get on with!
Okay let’s get into the nitty gritty of this Q&A as I know that this is what you really are here for!
1) We all have to admit that people who write crime fiction come up with some gruesome aspects in their work. Where do you get your inspiration from?
I’m interested in contributing to conversations about pertinent issues like toxic masculinity and gender-based violence – I’m very aware of the responsibility that comes with writing about such topics, and with writing violence in general. As a result, I never ever write violence in order to be entertaining or gruesome alone. I try to use scenes of violence sparingly, for impact, to highlight bigger themes.
2) What was your day job before your writing took off and how do you think it has affected the books you create?
I was a poet for ten years before I wrote a word of fiction, and that taught me really useful skills: I’m all about writing with economy, paying attention to rhythm, and editing quite strictly. That’s all thanks to poetry! But I was also a teacher before I became a full time writer, and I don’t think there are many jobs in this world that so effectively show you how people tick. I worked mostly in community settings and met with people from all walks of life. That’s a gift for a writer.
3) Who’s your favourite author at present?
Sitting by my bed I have an advance reading copy of Emily St John Mandel’s new novel, which isn’t out for a few months yet. I’m incredibly excited to start reading it: her novel Station Eleven was one of my favourites of the past ten years.
I am very jealous of this Claire as I loved Station Eleven!
4) What /who is your favourite of all time?
My favourite novel of all time is Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, but my favourite author is probably Margaret Atwood. I return to books of hers – Lady Oracle, The Blind Assassin – again and again and again.
5) Is there a genre of books you just can’t stand?
I pity people who turn their noses up at entire genres of books, especially when they do it publicly. They usually object to some sort of genre fiction – “all crime fiction is overrated,” for example – and they think it bolsters their literary credentials, but it really doesn’t. It just makes them look narrow-minded, and often classist, too. When someone slates an entire genre, they’re showing contempt for the readers of that genre. No author should ever show contempt for readers: without readers, none of us would be here.
6) If you were only allowed to read one book for the rest of your life what would it be?
Terry Pratchett’s Soul Music. It’d keep me in a good mood forever.
7) How does the ‘location’ i.e geographical area play it’s part when you are writing a book?
All my novels thus far have been set in Edinburgh, and the city is incredibly important to me. I’ve lived here since I was eighteen, and I think I must have walked every single Edinburgh street by now. When I was a child, my family moved around a lot, and this is the first time I’ve had that sense of belonging, of knowing a place so intimately. That comes out in the novels, I think: I really enjoy putting in little Edinburgh details, like the traffic lights on Seafield that are always out of sequence, or the way you can smell the Caledonian brewery when the wind blows the right way.
8) Describe your day when you are writing?
I’ve been writing for years, but only recently discovered that I’ve been structuring my days completely wrong. I used to find it hard to write in the mornings, so I’d do all my life admin then: emails, housework, etc. Sometimes that stuff would take longer than expected, and the writing wouldn’t start til around 3pm, which feels too late to get anything meaningful done. Other times, the life admin would tire me out or sap any creative urge and the writing would feel like a real slog. Only recently have I started getting out of bed and sitting down to do the writing immediately, as early as I can. It’s very tempting to check my emails first, but I force myself not to until I’ve got the chapter done or hit the wordcount I wanted. It’s made an amazing difference: my desire to get the writing done is much greater, and the sky has not yet fallen down because I didn’t reply to my emails until 4pm!
9) Can you give us any clues about the book you are working on?!
I’m at the proofread stage on my third novel, Cover Your Tracks. The last woman to see Missing Person Phamie MacDonald alive is rapidly losing her memory. What if Phamie is connected to other women whose cases went cold long ago? DI Helen Birch has a REALLY BAD FEELING about it all. There’ll be trainspotters, knitting, prison violence, mystery letters and questions upon questions upon questions. Coming in August 2020!
10) How important do you think the blogging community and social media is in the book industry?
Very important. Book bloggers work so hard to champion us authors, and #bookstagram is one of my favourite places on the internet. Shout out to a couple of my Instagram faves: Kelly Lacey of kellylovesbooks, and Joanne Baird of portybelle, the Portobello Book Blog. They’ve both done loads to get my books in front of readers and I love them for it.
And finally a bonus question!
Okay what would rather have as a method to kill off a character - a hundred penguins descending on a person or one solitary shaving nick which led to an infection and death? Why did you choose what you did?
Definitely the penguins – there’s just way more plot in that option!
