AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes' debut novel, In Search of Adam will be released on 15 June 2007. Caroline's road to publication was an exciting one. After finishing In Search of Adam in August 2006, she launched a website and blog.

Three weeks later Clare Christian from The Friday Project stumbled onto it, requested the manuscript and offered Caroline a publishing contract (In Search of Adam will be the first novel published by The Friday Project, which is the only publishing company that specialises in sourcing the brightest talent from the web).

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

Disturbing, controversial, 1980s, hammer, abuse, Eddie, suicide, neglect, cave, Jude, exhibits, typography, food, stairs, pea-green-boat.

Or

Trapped within a family secret, Jude Williams becomes the consequence of her mother’s tragedy.

I have difficulty summarising.

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

I have an office in my house and a lovely desk that is often messy. I 'have to be' at my desk to write my current novel. This is a new writing experience, as I wrote In Search of Adam on several scraps of paper and typed them up in chunks.

Your favourite chick-lit book?

I have to say Lucy Diamond's Any Way You Want Me. I finished it last week and now it has shot to the top of my favourites. It was an 'in one sitting' read, that had me feeling a range of emotions and hoping/praying for a happy ever after.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

Matilda from Roald Dahl's classic. She has depth, determination, magic and a love of books.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

For me, I became a writer when I enrolled on a writing course. It legitimised (in my mind) what I had been doing for 'fun.' The course gave me the confidence to write and prepare the manuscript to a suitable standard, but it also allowed me to focus and prioritise my writing. I had to write 5,000 words every three weeks and I work well to deadlines. The key is to find whatever it is that legitimises your writing, focus
and write.

What are you reading at the moment?

Marian Keyes - Anybody Out There. It's been edged down my 'to read' pile for too long.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

It's called Black Boxes and is a story in two parts - box one and box two. It's loosely based on the idea of the black boxes that are extracted from a plane wreck. The reader is to unravel the story to find the cause of the 'crash.' The voices are of a mother and a daughter, focusing on sounds and lost words. It's another dark novel.

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!

I've never been asked what I want to be when I grow up.
My answer is either a penguin or an Ice Princess.

Thanks, Caroline!

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