Author Interview: Cathy Macphail

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet and interview Cathy Macphail who is a a children's author from Scotland.

First of all I want to say a massive thank you to Cathy for taking time out to stop and chat with me, and also for signing my copy of Missing.

To find out more you can visit her site HERE

and follow her on twitter HERE

So on with the interview...

Why do you write childrens and young adult books?

I always say that I didn’t choose to write them, they chose me. My daughter Katie was getting bullied at the time, and I decided to write about that. I had never wrote before that but since then I’ve never looked back

Out of all the books you have wrote, which one would you say means the most to you?

I can’t really pick just one, it’s hard to pick just one of my books. But I would say that Run Zan Run would mean the most to me, it was the first book I wrote. Also Beast Within I think is very cleverly written, but like I said I can’t pick just one.

A lot of your books are based in and around Glasgow, and use a lot of Glasgow scenery and local language. Did you set out to do that, or did that just happen when you began writing?

I tend to write about places that I know, I’m from Scotland so I write about Scotland. Alan Gibbons writes about Liverpool as that’s what he knows. I just write about what I know and the voices in my head are Scottish.

What inspired you to write?

I always loved reading and going to the cinema when I was a wee girl, I loved all the different stories. That inspired me to write my own.

How long does it generally take you to finish writing a book?

Well Publishers always have a deadline, I try to write a chapter a day by hand and end that on a cliff-hanger. Even if that chapter turns out to be rubbish, I still try to write a chapter a day.

A first draft can take a month to finish writing, then a couple more months to edit it and make any changes and corrections to it.

What where some of your favourite books when you were growing up?

Little women and Pride and Prejudice. I also loved ghost stories!

What are you reading just now?

I’m actually re-reading Jane Eyre

Do you have a favourite book that you can read over and over again?

Pride and Prejudice.

Is there anything you are working on just now?

Yes, I am working on the third book in the Tyler Lawless series. The second book Secrets of Shadows is due to be released in March, the third book doesn’t have a name yet.

Do you have any advice for any budding young authors out there?

Read as much as you can keep a notebook and take it with you everywhere. Jot something down in it every day and don’t give up!