Author Laura Kay Answers all our Questions
- Latest Book: The Split
- Can you give us the ‘elevator pitch’ version of your latest book.
Brutally dumped by her girlfriend, Ally is homeless, friendless and jobless… but at least she has Malcolm. Wounded and betrayed, Ally has made off with the one thing she thinks might soothe the pain: Emily’s cat. - Tell us something about yourself that we likely don’t know! The more obscure the better!
In 2017 I ran the hottest London Marathon on record…very slowly. - Do you write in silence, or with music? If you write to music, give us the top three songs on your writers’ playlist this week.
It has to be silence – I am very easily distracted. - Are you a plotter or pantser?
A pantser. I do try and organise myself but it tends to be after I’ve scribbled down a first draft. - Have your characters ever ‘gone off-script’ – hijacked your story and taken it in a direction you didn’t expect?
This hasn’t ever happened. Before I start writing I know my characters inside out so it’s unlikely that I wouldn’t know how they’d respond to any given situation.
- If you could spend time with any character from any of your books, who would it be and what would you do?
I think it would be a lot of fun to go on a night out with Jeremy and Ally.
- Which of your characters can you say you would least get along with in real life?
I think that I might find Emily very annoying but that’s probably because she’s a lot like me! - Do you read your reviews?
No. I don’t read any reviews. If I take notice of the good then I’ll take notice of the bad too so I just leave them altogether. I make an exception for reviews sent to me by anyone at my publishers or my agent who I trust only to show me stuff I should see. - What has been the toughest criticism you have been given since becoming a published author?
I don’t think I’ve been given any tough criticism. Perhaps I have in online reviews but I don’t know about it!
- What is the best compliment you have received?
That my novel has made people laugh, which is the best thing in the world. - Do you have a day job when you are not writing? If so, what do you do?
I do, I’m a journalist. - Can you name three authors who have inspired your writing?
Helen Fielding, David Nicholls, Elizabeth Strout.
- What was your favourite book as a child?
When I was younger I loved all the Sweet Valley High books. And The Babysitters Club. - What scene in your latest book was the hardest scene to write (without giving away too many spoilers!)
All the sex scenes. I just try to pretend no one else will ever read them otherwise I’d just have to do a ‘fade out’ for them all.
- Do you have any other author friends? If so, can you name a few and have any of them given you a piece of advice you would consider invaluable on your publishing journey?
There are two groups of people who’ve been invaluable during the process of publication – everyone who completed WriteNow with me in 2018 and the Debuts2021 group. If you search for #Debuts2021 on Twitter you’ll find such an incredible selection of books coming out this year by some very talented authors all of whom have had to be even more creative with getting the word about their book out there due to the pandemic. I think the best advice I’ve been given is to just keep writing and not get swept up in everything else that comes along with publishing a novel. The writing is the most important thing and I try not to lose sight of that.
You can purchase Laura’s latest book: The Split here on Amazon or you can take a look at our review of The Split here on our Book Club.
