It's my great pleasure to welcome a fellow West Country writer, Rosen Trevithick, to my blog. Here, amid a busy schedule for her recently published book, Straight Out of University, I turned the spotlight on her to learn more about her novel, food combining and fly paper.Can you tell us about your book and the reasons why you wrote it?
Straight Out of University is a contemporary, comedy-romance that explores the culture shock of leaving university and trying to make it in the real world. That's something I've been through myself and I found it riddled with humour, so I let it inspire a book.
It also tells the story of a bisexual woman who is neither confused nor promiscuous, which I felt was long overdue.*
What would you say to your central character?
I'd tell Sophie Sweet that Maltesers and malt vinegar are not compatible ingredients, and probably lend her some of my recipes.
What are your aspirations as a writer?
Mostly, I want to entertain people. If I can make people think about a situation is a new way, then that's a bonus. Also, I'd like my writing to lead to the acquisition of a house on a cliff, with a flower garden and a windy path down to the beach.
Are you a meticulous plotter or a seat-of-the-pants writer?
It depend what I'm writing. I do enjoy making fiction up as I go, but that can leave me snookered without an ending, so I don't risk that strategy for large projects like a novel. Straight Out of University was planned carefully in advance.
Name three books - of any genre - that really inspired you, and why.
Matilda by Roald Dahl, One Day by David Nicholls and A Hole on the World by Sophie Robbins. Regarding the latter, I think it's incredible that an eighteen year old has already written and self-published a novel, let alone a good one.
Name an author you'd like to be trapped in a lift with, and tell us why.
Whichever author is also skilled as a lift repair technician. There's bound to be an indie author out there who knows how to fix a lift. There might even be an eBook on that very subject - indie books are getting pretty diverse.
What have you learned about yourself through the process of writing your book?
If you leave your housework for six weeks, nobody dies, but you do need to invest in some fly paper.
Where can we buy Straight Out of University?
*You implied, at the beginning of this interview, that your novel's take on bisexual women was long overdue - can you elaborate?
There are four predominant bisexual women in fiction:
- The soulless baddie who will seduce everything and everybody in order to spin her evil web.
- The selfish, promiscuous slut who can't decide between men and women, so does both.
- The lesbian in denial.
- The straight woman who dabbles in lesbian behaviour in order to improve TV ratings.
Sophie Sweet is none of those. She's caring, committed, self-aware (after the first couple of chapters) and genuine - like a real woman.
You can also see a trailer for Rosen's book here.
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