Today’s interview is with prolific author Clare Swatman, who has done something that I’m always in awe of, and that is making the impressive leap from journalist to novelist.
It’s always fascinating to hear how a career evolves, and in Clare’s case, it’s a journey that began in women’s magazines and took a turn towards fiction ten years ago, resulting in not one but now nine - count ‘em - novels.
Today, she shares with us how a love for storytelling, combined with years of working in true-life journalism, has helped to shape her unique approach to writing.
Last month, she published Last Christmas, her first ever seasonal offering and below we talk about the thinking behind publishing a festive tome at the end of August. And in December, her first ever thriller, No Son of Mine, will hit the shelves under the name CL Swatman. You know things are going well as an author when you need two names!
We cover a lot of ground, diving into how motherhood played a pivotal role in the shift to novel writing, the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with getting published, and what it’s like to finally see your book on the shelf.
From the highs of bidding wars to the challenges of breaking into a new genre, this conversation is packed with insights, advice, and a whole lot of heart.
Sitting comfortably? Coffee to hand? Excellent. Then let’s get started…
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Your writing is different from everyone else’s, and your brain is different from theirs too. It’s ok to be different and it doesn’t mean someone else is better.”
Clare, thank you for talking to The TEN. Can you tell us a little more about your journey from journalist to novelist?
After university, I took a post-graduate magazine journalism course; I’d studied French and Spanish, rather than journalism or English, so wanted some form of qualification for the job I actually wanted to do. My first job was freelancing for weekly women’s magazines including Best and Woman’s Own, before landing a full-time job at Bella, where I worked my way up from writer to Assistant Editor. I really loved it. I loved the people, the job and the place (Camden, north London). In my twenties, it was everything I’d ever wanted.
Then I had a baby and went freelance and things started becoming more and more digital and I well, became a bit of a dinosaur, as a print journalist.
I’d always dreamed of writing a novel, but not in a serious way. I never truly thought I’d be able to. But then, when my second son was two years old in 2013, I had an idea I wanted to write, and I thought “well, now is an excellent time to find spare time to write a book!”
I put one day a week aside to write it, and a year later I had a first draft. And then that sat in my virtual bottom draw for another year before my friend and fellow author, Katy Regan, said she’d take a look at it and subsequently told me I had to send it out.
I sent it out to around 12 agents initially, fully expecting them to say thanks but no thanks. But to my utter amazement, one got back and asked for a full manuscript, and a couple of weeks later I signed with her. It was a bit of a whirlwind after that. My book went out on submission and I ended up with two UK publishers battling for it, and six German publishers in a bidding war and was totally overwhelmed!
That was in the autumn of 2015. Before You Go came out in the UK in February 2017, by which time, sadly, my editor at Pan Macmillan had been made redundant, and nobody had been assigned to take over from her, and my book was left to flounder a bit.
When my second book came out a year later it sank without a trace. I thought that was the end of my exciting new career before it had really taken off and was heartbroken. But I’m nothing if not determined so I brushed myself off and started to write something new. I self-published Dear Grace and then signed a contract with Boldwood for Before We Grow Old - and now here I am, nine books in with two more written and on the way, and hoping to carry on, if not forever, then for many, many more years.
You were a true-life journalist for many years. Did that influence your writing?
Yes it absolutely did and continues to do so. I’ve always been interested in people - how they think, what makes them tick – and I’m fascinated by how different people can be. Working as a true-life writer and editor for so many years made me realise I wanted to write about extraordinary things happening to ordinary people - because people are endlessly fascinating.
Before You Go came from a true story I read about a woman who had an accident and when she woke up from a coma she thought she was 17 years old, and didn’t know who her husband and children were. For a long time I had the idea in my head that I wanted to write a story using this, but I wasn’t sure how, and then one day it just came to me. Then I planned the book out and wrote it.
It’s also where my writing style came from. I was never going to be a literary writer, no matter how hard I tried. So I leaned into what I knew and what I was good at, which was writing emotional stories about people.
Your most recent novel, Last Christmas, was published last month. Can you tell us more about it?
It was never the plan to write a Christmas book but it just seemed to fit the story, and so far many of the reviewers have said it can be read at any time of the year. Christmas is just the thing that anchors the story as we pass from year to year.
It tells the story of Bea who, on 22 December 2002, is standing at Heathrow airport, staring at the departures board, and wondering whether to board her flight to New York to start her new life, or whether to stay in London and try to make it work with her husband Dom. And that’s where the story splits; one storyline called ‘Go’, where Bea gets on the plane and goes to New York, and the other, unsurprisingly, called ‘Go’, where she stays.
I loved writing this book. I’d always wanted to write a Sliding Doors style story. I love anything with a time twist in it, be it alternative universes, timeslips or time travel – and like my debut, this was in my head as a half-formed idea for many years. It was never going to be a Christmas book, but when it came to it, I decided to set it just before Christmas every year, and it seemed to bring the story alive.
I’m curious as to the decision-making process of publishing a Christmas novel in August. Can you talk us through it and any challenges it presents?
The publication date is not my decision, it’s always my publisher who chooses that, but we have had some open and honest discussions about this so I can certainly shed some light on it.
I said I was writing a Christmas book and they told me that the best date for publication, in their experience, is the August bank holiday weekend. I thought that seemed very early, but they assured me that it’s all about the slow burn.
Unlike with my other books, they didn’t expect this one to have high presales. After all, who’s going to be lying on a beach in August and think “Oh, I must preorder that Christmas book”?
So while my presales have slowly grown from book to book, this time they were lower, but that’s the game plan. My publisher explained that sales slowly grow throughout September, so that by the time October comes, the algorithms have done their magic and the book is more visible and on everyone’s radar. And that’s when they expect to start seeing sales grow.
It’s been quite hard watching the book come out and not do as much as usual, but I fully trust them, and they’ve had huge success with this strategy before so I’m happy. I expect things are slightly different for traditional publishers, but with digital-first, this seems to be what works, so who am I to argue?
You also have a psychological thriller called No Son of Mine out on December 1. It’s your first thriller, so can you tell us about it and why the change of direction in terms of genre?
I’m equal parts excited and nervous. As you say, it’s a new direction for me, and that’s always scary. But as a writer, it’s also good to have challenges, and I think writing in two genres has been good for my writing in general (I’ll still be writing women’s fiction, but I’ll be alternating between the two).
I love reading a wide variety of genres, but my three favourites are probably women’s fiction/ book club, crime and thriller, and literary fiction. I’ve always written women’s fiction up to now, but sometimes when I discuss a new idea with my editor she says “be careful not to go too dark’”. But I kept having all these ideas that didn’t quite fit into the genre I was writing, so I decided to try writing a thriller and get my dark side out there. My editor didn’t know I was writing it - it was written completely out of contract - so I was thrilled when she said she loved it and wanted to publish it.
It tells the story of Alex, who finds out that Samuel, the baby boy she gave birth to and had given away has been accused of murdering his adoptive father. At the same time, her 15-year-old son, Milo, has been getting into trouble, fighting and getting arrested.
She blames herself for both boys being aggressive because her father was the same. At the same time, she finds herself becoming increasingly scared and suspicious of everyone around her. It looks at the theme of nature versus nurture – whether you’re born bad or are made that way – and has also been described as pacy and exciting by a few people who have read it so far.
If you were to give yourself advice just before you sat down to write your first novel, from the perspective of now having written your ninth, what would you tell yourself?
Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Your writing is different from everyone else’s, and your brain is different from theirs too. It’s ok to be different and it doesn’t mean someone else is better.
Work hard, but make sure you keep things in perspective. You’re not saving lives, you’re enriching them. Don’t let things get on top of you, or let worries get in the way of enjoying writing.
Don’t take reviews personally because you can’t please everyone all of the time, and sometimes, sadly, some people just like to be mean which will make you feel really sad. Try to focus on the (many more) good ones.
Stop and look backward sometimes. When I wrote my first book I had zero expectations beyond wanting people to read it. But with every book the goalposts move, and when you don’t meet them it can make you feel like a failure. But if you think about what past you would think if they could see you now, it helps you remember how far you’ve come.
Can you share the writers who inspire you, and your favourite books and repeat reads?
I’m not actually a huge repeat reader, although there are probably a handful of books I’ve read more than once: Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Handmaid’s Tale and Atonement (although I wished I hadn’t as I hated it the second time round!).
When I first started writing I dreamed of writing like Margaret Atwood or Maggie O’Farrell. They’re both wonderful writers but as the years went on I realised that’s not who I am as a writer, and that it’s ok to think they’re brilliant, but it’s also ok to write differently to them.
I also adore Kate Atkinson (I pre-order anything by her without even reading the blurb and I don’t do that with anyone else), Lisa Jewell, Claire Douglas and my lovely friend Laura Pearson, is one of the best writers I know.
Other than that, my writer friends inspire me. Everyone has a different way of working but they’re all brilliant at what they do and so hard working and funny.
“Work hard, but make sure you keep things in perspective. You’re not saving lives, you’re enriching them.”
Okay, gear change. Here’s a magazine-style question. If we were to see your desk from your POV, what would see on it?
My desk is a mess! I’m not a naturally tidy person although, weirdly, I do like things to be tidy so it’s a constant battle. I used to have a huge desk that was built into the width of my office wall, but I recently got rid of that because it was just becoming a dumping ground, and now have a much smaller one which forces me to put things away a bit more.
I have my laptop raised on a stand and a separate keyboard in front. There’s a lamp, a glass of water or, more often, a cup of tea, a pot of pens, some post-it notes, and a couple of notebooks. And that’s it. My printer is beside it, and what’s underneath the desk is ‘The Place We Never Look’ because it’s the place where most of the mess now goes.
I also have lots of notes around me such as the promo I’ve agreed with my publisher for any upcoming books, a list of publication dates scribbled on a piece of paper, and there’s even a tax return pinned to the board behind my laptop which is probably not very calming for the soul!
We always talk about the hard work but what are the fun bits of being a novelist?
So many things! The people are brilliant. Most other novelists are really kind and supportive, so I always look to them for advice and kind words.
There’s also nothing better than the thrill of seeing your book on a bookshop shelf or on Amazon and knowing people are out there reading the story that was created entirely from your mind. It’s actually quite surreal, so I try not to think about it too often because it makes me nervous.
Oh, and getting sent books to read to give a quote for will NEVER get old. It makes me feel like a proper author (and yes I know the nine published novels should do that!).
And finally, what are you writing at the moment, and what do you still yearn to achieve in terms of your writing?
As I said above, the goalposts are always moving, so I will always dream of having a New York Times bestseller or having my books made into blockbuster films. But the truth is that I just want to be able to keep writing and being published and to steadily grow my readership base so that I have lots of people who love and read my books. It’s all we ever want as writers, I think.
At the moment I am finishing off the next Clare Swatman book which is as yet untitled and is about to be sent to my editor to read for the first time – eek! It’s due to come out in April next year. I have a rough outline of my next CL Swatman thriller so that’s what will be happening next, and then onto the writing of that!
Last Christmas is out now, and No Son of Mine will be published by Boldwood Books, on December 1.
Follow Clare in all ways you can!
www.facebook.com.clareswatmanauthor
www.instagram.com/clareswatmanauthor
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