When our work experience student picked up a copy of Roanna McClelland’s award-winning debut novel, The Comforting Weight of Water, she was swept up into the novel’s wild and wet world.

In a special blog post, Roanna answers questions about the book, being a debut author, and finding inspiration in unusual places.

Read the interview in full below.

How would you describe your writing process for The Comforting Weight of Water?

The Comforting Weight of Water was my first novel and in many ways my writing process was initially experimental, rather than intentional. When I started, I didn’t even realise that I was writing a novel rather than a short story. I had a clear voice, world, and theme in mind, but had not structured a full plot. Because I didn’t have grand aspirations, the first draft of the manuscript was written quickly and organically and unselfconsciously. That initial looseness in writing meant I had to return to the manuscript in a more focused and organised way for redrafts: I spent more time world-building and considering plot and sequencing, and asking myself questions about the characters and how they might move through this world I had created. 

My best writing is done away from the computer; I spent a lot of time sending myself manic voice notes on walks or when I was meant to be doing other work! 

What has your experience been in becoming a published author?

Becoming a published author is a wild ride. It’s a peculiar experience: you invest so much of yourself in writing a book, then almost have to step away from your work and treat reviews, promotion and sales with a certain level of detachment. I was fortunate to have lots of support including the staff at Wakefield Press as well as family and friends, and I was invited into a wonderful community of debut authors. That sense of community cannot be underestimated: learning from other authors’ experiences puts your own into perspective, and they act as a sounding board or support when most needed. I know so much more about the industry now, in part due to that debut author community, and feel well prepared for book two! A lot of time is spent trying to position yourself to continue writing, whether that’s securing promotion, recognition, funding, or time: I have discovered publication of the debut is just the first step! 

As a new author, what advice would you give those who want to get their manuscripts published?

I am not the first author to give this advice but as a start, read widely and write prolifically. A lot of my early pieces, whilst not published, have made it into subsequent works in some form or another. Writing practice is never wasted, and reading other works across diverse genres is an intellectual and craft-building exercise. Find trusted readers who will give you honest advice, but trust your instincts too: you can’t take every bit of feedback on board and your writing has to be uniquely yours if you want to stand out. That courage in maintaining your own writing style also applies to putting your work out there: try not to let self-consciousness or doubt stand in the way of submitting everywhere. Journals, magazines and publishing houses receive thousands of submissions, which means no one is singling you out for judgment, but equally means you have to be in the mix if you have any hope of being picked out of the pile. Rejections will be relentless (unless you are exceptional!) and much of what you write won’t be published. Find a writing community for support, knowledge-sharing, and laughs. It’s a tough industry and tough market but if you love writing, the rewards are worthwhile. Seeing your book in a bookstore alongside brilliant authors is a magical experience.

What inspired the world and the story of The Comforting Weight of Water?

Aside from a healthy appetite for apocalypse literature, I was working in the environment and water space and thinking about the problems presented by considering ourselves separate from nature. Much water/nature literature in this vein focuses on what happens when we run out of water and the landscape becomes hostile dry, but one day I was watching my kids play unbothered in the rain and started thinking about survival in a world where it is always wet. I spent a lot of time observing mud and water and rain and thinking about how that world would look, touch, feel, smell, and how the characters’ bodies would respond to that environment. The idea of a world where every surface is slippery presented a different terror than the desert dystopias I was accustomed to in literature.

‘The Unbidden’ is a term mentioned throughout the book, but what exactly is it? Does it represent or symbolise anything in particular? How did you come up with the concept of the Unbidden?

The Unbidden is essentially fear: it gives a living, moving form to fear and, relatedly, blame and violence. The Unbidden describes what happens when fear lurks and rises among a group of people and the collective need to find someone (or something) to blame and purge to stop that fear. It personifies that blind pack mentality that we have seen arise in so many places across history: once people find a target to blame for their fear, sadness, misfortune etc, it doesn’t take long before that target is hunted – a witch hunt. In the novel, the Unbidden is a destructive, desperate force that rises up when surviving in the natural world becomes impossible and the survivors need something to blame for their suffering. It drives their actions. It isn’t hard to think of inspiration: at the time I was pondering how women’s rights could possibly be rolling backwards, particularly in the US, but there are myriad potent examples across history. 

How would you describe the process of developing the main characters and their personalities?

The characters came first. The voice of the main child character came into my head long before the plot laid itself out before me. It was a compelling voice and is probably what drove the initial manuscript writing. I then created the second primary character, Gammy. I liked the idea of a cranky old lady stuck in an apocalypse with an arrogant teenager, a translocation of ordinary generational dynamics to an extraordinary situation. The story is quite insular – there are only two main characters – and so their personalities had to be highly developed, as did their dynamic: much of the story is told via their conversations. What they keep from each other is also telling, and the development of Gammy’s character is an important part of showing the reader the past, while the child shows the reader the present (and possible futures).

I wanted to create an uneasy sense of impending disaster using the other characters and part of that was making them mostly devoid of personality, except that which was projected onto them by the primary characters of Gammy and child. A blank slate can enliven all kinds of horrors. 

If you were to write a sequel, do you have any idea of how that would unfold?

The book is ripe for a sequel, but perhaps a prequel could be the next chapter in this story! I can’t say much more on that without giving away the book’s ending, but there are both questions about the past, and the possibilities of a new world, that would be worth exploring.