Best selling indie author,
Rosen Trevithick, talks to me about her latest collection Seesaw, her
influences and ambitions, and multi-coloured teapots.
Rosen Trevithick is one of a
new breed of author; talented novelists who have turned away from the big publishers
and struck out on their own. A proud indie writer, Rosen
is passionate about her work and has achieved some remarkable early success;
publishing her own work and hitting the top spot in the Amazon rankings
numerous times.
Rosen has so far written two
novels and a selection of short stories, which she has recently brought
together in a brilliant collection, Seesaw.
A Cornish writer, now living
in Devon, Rosen’s life ambitions are to write a worldwide bestseller, own a
rainbow-coloured teapot and have her own cat. She claims to have achieved two
of these.
Rosen,
Your new collection of short stories Seesaw is doing very well in the UK charts
right now. Tell us a bit about it?
Originally, I wrote a couple
of novels, such as the bisexual comedy romance, Straight Out of University. I
wrote a series of short stories to grab the interest of new readers. However,
the short stories ended up popular in their own right, so I put them together
in a collection, called Seesaw.
Did you always want to be an author?
Yes, I think I did. There
were brief interludes during which I was momentarily distracted by dreams of
being a Radio Cornwall presenter or a forensic psychologist, but my heart
always ended up heading back to writing.
Who or what has been the greatest influences on your
writing?
Roald Dahl was my favourite
author as a child. He taught me how much fun books can be. Aside from that, I
would say I'm more influenced by experiences than other writers. When
interesting things happen, I feel a strong desire to make them into stories.
How
would you characterise your work?
My work varies a lot. I've
written some serious psychological fiction, but I feel most comfortable when
I'm writing comedy. I'm quite an opinionated person and there's often a
political undercurrent, for example raising awareness about bisexuality,
challenging our perception of what is an acceptable form of love, or
de-stigmatising mental illness.
Which
piece of writing are you the most proud of and why?
I'm proud of different
pieces for different reasons. Perhaps London, the Doggy and Me is
the funniest, but there will always be a special place in my heart for Footprints
because it was my first novel, and then there's Seesaw, which is my only paperback. There's something about holding
your own paperback in your hands, which is hard to rival.
What
kind of books do you like to read?
At the moment I'm reading
books by other indie writers. I've read a few books with a lesbian theme such
as A Hole in the World and The Lost Resort. I'm also reading highly
recommended Kindle books from a variety of genres, such as those by Steve
Robinson, Shaun Jeffrey and David Wailing.
Are
you working on anything at the moment?
I'm currently writing a
humorous mystery novel about a group of indie writers who go to a writers'
retreat and afterwards, find that the plots of their stories start to come
true. It will be available later this summer.
What
advice would you give to aspiring writers hoping to get published?
I'd take the focus off
getting published and empower them to put themselves out there as an indie. The
market is changing. You don't need a publisher to get your work read these
days. Aspiring writers should focus on getting at least one idea down on paper,
and once they're happy with it, try sharing it with friends. If they like it,
why not self-publish an eBook? It's not an all or nothing publishing world
anymore.
What
do you think are the greatest challenges facing a writer today?
Getting noticed is the
hardest part. There are so many books out there, that even if your writing is
superb, unless you do an awful amount of promotion and have a great amount of
luck, people might not even notice that your book is there.
It's also very difficult to
earn a living from writing. Authors usually get a very small cut from a
paperback sale, and eBooks tend to be so cheap that even a writer selling ten
thousand copies a year, might not be earning equivalent of the minimum wage.
What
is it that really motivates you as a writer?
I just really love writing.
Getting feedback from other people is motivating, but I was writing long before
I was sharing.
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