Leap headfirst into the unknown
Growing up in North Shields, how did the community and environment shape your perspective on life and relationships, especially in the context of your novels?
What I am sure of is that I felt a great sense of community and belonging growing up in North Shields, which, for a queer person, may be unusual. Community is right at the centre of everything here. Nobody gets left behind. I’ve always believed this to be important, and so I’ve always sought out community wherever I am, be that at drama school in London, or in many of the other places I’ve lived and worked over the years. I learnt at an early age that life is about people. The greatest things can happen to you, but without people to share it with these things have little value. We are all one and the same. That’s what I believe anyway, and I’d like to think that I’ve carried this belief over into my novels, and that it forms the basis of my characters’ interactions and relationships too.
Your novels often feature small northern towns as settings. How does your personal connection to North Shields influence the authenticity of these settings and the characters within them?
My stories are authentic because they’re inspired by my own lived experiences. For a long time I wrote stories that were set in fantastical worlds, or places far away from home that I had no connection to, until I realised that there were many more interesting tales waiting for me here in my own backyard. My first novel, Fairy Boys, is set in Beadnell Bay in Northumberland. I have such vivid memories of spending weekends there at my parent’s caravan, going on adventures in the sand dunes, at the beach and the old harbour.
My next novel, All About Roman(ce), is set in Tynemouth, where I grew up. I go a little further afield in my new book, Emmy Star is So Everything, which is out this summer, as this story is influenced by my time as a student in London.
The main character comes from a small northern town, and so as a reader you get to experience what’s it’s like making that life adjustment from small town to metropolitan city. I write about the world as I see it, using my lived experiences as my lens, and so it’s probably inevitable that small northern towns, like North Shields, have a huge influence on both setting and character when I’m world-building.
Reflecting on your upbringing, what aspects of North Shields do you find yourself missing the most when you’re away?
There are so many things! I miss the people, the accent, the humour and, of course, the coastline. I lived in London for a long time – almost two decades – and I remember my grandma saying to me when I came back: ‘You’ve done what Geordies do – you’ve come home.’ I don’t know if there are other places in the country where people feel such a strong pull to home. I’ve travelled far and wide in my life; I’ve lived in Egypt, I’ve worked on cruise ships where home is a different port every day and I’ve also spent months on the road. But I always knew I would return. I guess my grandma was right and that Geordies are homing pigeons at heart. It doesn’t matter how far we roam, we’ll always find our way back. Home means something different here; it’s not just a place but also a feeling, and something that connects us to each other.
[tds_partial_locker tds_locker_id=”100″]How do these nostalgic feelings find their way into your writing?
My first novel, Fairy Boys, feels very nostalgic to me now as I wrote it a while ago when I was living in London. I can definitely feel a pull towards home when I read it. The voice used in this book feels very ‘Geordie’. I’m so proud of that – it’s one of my favourite things about the book. Relationships and community are at the heart of the story, and I don’t think this book would exist had I come from anywhere else. It’s my love letter to home, I suppose.
When you return home to North Shields, what is the first thing you do or place your visit? I go to the water. Fish Quay Sands is my favourite. I stand right at the edge of the world and look out across the Tyne as it sweeps into the North Sea, and my world becomes one of impossible magic.
How does reconnecting with your hometown inspire new ideas or influence your creative process?
Reconnecting with my hometown – my roots – allowed me to get to the source of who I am, and where my need to create comes from. The reason I tell stories is kept here, and I’m always eager to find it. My voice as a writer is kept here too, as is the magic of my childhood, where stories played such a crucial part. And so, this is where I am at my most authentic. These are my foundations, feet in the sandpit, head in the clouds. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I never thought moving back to North Shields would have such a profound influence on my work, but this place – my home – continues to surprise me, and I feel really happy about that.
What advice would you give to someone who would love to be a writer?
Stay curious. Always. And write! Write anywhere and everywhere by whichever means possible. This is how you’ll find your voice.
And really, if you’re not prepared to wade through the slush pile because you love what happens when a character infiltrates your mind, or you get a thrill when your sentences begin to sing off the page, or your stomach flips when you finally figure out the puzzle of a story, then what’s the point?
This is how you’ll uncover your strengths and expose your weaknesses. Also, and I know this may sound trite, but you need to love what you do. You need to love writing with every fibre of your being. Being a writer is very hard. It comes with a great deal of rejection, and you often have to put in years of work before you’re ready to tell your stories. I was writing for at least a decade before an agent noticed my work! The rejections are always brutal, but they’re also necessary. I realise now that those formative years were preparing me for something much bigger. I’m just glad that, with every passing year, I became more determined, because quitting would have been so lovely but it wouldn’t have served me at all.
So, first be sure. And then?
Leap headfirst into the unknown.
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