Author Interview With Claire Huston

 Welcome to my author interview, today we give a warm welcome to Claire Huston the author of Art and Soul. 

I was given the wonderful opportunity to read Claire Huston's debut novel in return for my honest review. 

Click here to see my Book Review - Art and Soul by Claire Huston 

 Art and Soul was self-published in April 2020 and is available in paperback or Ebook 

  

So, to get to know my guests better, I get them to pick a venue for where this interview could take place, they can pick anywhere they like, it could be somewhere special, a favourite place or somewhere they have always wanted to go.

Where is the venue today Claire, do I need to bring anything along with me?

I’d like to invite you to afternoon tea at The Ritz in London. I’ve had afternoon tea a few times, but I’ve never made it to The Ritz and would love to enjoy tea, cakes and dainty sandwiches with you (and perhaps a glass of fizz) while we chat. You wouldn’t need to bring anything special with you, although perhaps don’t wear anything with too tight a waistband and bring a handbag large enough to carry home any leftover treats! 

Picture from visitdartmoor.co.uk
/history-of-the-devon-cream-tea

A girl after my own heart, love an afternoon tea, that’s got me craving an afternoon tea now. The big controversial question is - cream or Jam first? 

As I am from Devon I always go cream first!

I find it much easier to spread the jam on the scone first and then drop the cream on top. Apologies to Devon-method loyalists 😊

 

So now we are settled and munching away happily let’s get to know Claire a bit better. What inspired you to start writing and when did you first decide to write your debut novel?

I’ve always written stories, even back in school. I’d managed to write some short stories but had never finished a novel. I always seemed to run out of steam around the halfway mark. But Art and Soul was the first story for which I had a clear vision of the ending and I think that was what carried me to the finish line. I started writing it in the autumn of 2015 and had a first draft finished at the start of 2016.

If you finished the first draft in 2016, how come you did not publish until April 2020?

I spent almost three years submitting Art and Soul to literary agents and to publishers who take direct submissions. After many encouraging rejections, I decided to publish it myself. I then worked with a brilliant editor, proof-reader, cover designer and formatter before publication in April 2020. I'm really pleased I went ahead and published it because lots of readers have told me how much happiness it brought them in what's been a difficult year and that's much better than the book sitting forgotten on my computer.

I have to agree, it would have been such a waste to have been lost on a computer. Where do you normally write, do you have a favourite spot or do you follow any routine?

I write whenever I can find some peace and quiet, which is harder than it sounds when looking after two small children and working part time from home. To finish my second book, I took to writing from 9pm to 1am for a 6-week period during lockdown (I don’t recommend this, but it was the only way to get it done). I prefer to write sitting on our comfy sofa, but often it’s occupied, so I have to decamp to anywhere I can sit and type without being distracted.

I know where you are coming from, children and work are not a great mix as they always want something at a critical stage when you would rather be left alone. 

Did any of your characters reflect yourself or anyone else that you know?

I think, subconsciously, all the characters in Art and Soul are made up of little pieces of people I’ve met. I’d love to think I would be as capable in a crisis as Becky, but I doubt I would be when put to the test. But I certainly share her love of cake! 

I share the love of cake to, there is just something so pleasing about a good bit of cake! 

After reading Art and Soul, I had a little browse on your website and came across the cake recipes that featured in the book, what gave you this idea? (I absolutely love it by the way)

The cakes were all in the book before I thought of making them. I’d finished my second draft of the novel and was submitting it to agents. I knew I’d be waiting a while to hear back from them, so I started blogging to stop myself obsessively refreshing my email. I’ve always enjoyed baking and decided to include recipes on my blog. This is what led to the idea of baking all the cakes which appear in Art and Soul and putting the recipes on my website so when I was eventually published (I was optimistic!) readers could easily find the recipes for the cakes which feature in the story if they wanted to try them. 

It’s a brilliant idea that I absolutely love. So, is baking something you do in your spare time when you’re not writing or reading?

It’s the one “leisure” activity the kids will happily leave me alone to get on with, which is one of the reasons I do so much of it! I do find it relaxing and it’s terrific to have something delicious to share and enjoy at the end of it.

How do you get away with the kids not wanting to help? My daughter loves a baking session with me, she seems to have a radar telling her I’m going to bake! She has a thing for sprinkles to so we will be trying the sponge cake with white icing and sprinkles at some point. 

Baking is pretty much the only activity my boys let me get on with almost uninterrupted! I think they've realised that if they stay out of my way they'll get to taste the results more quickly 😀 When they're a bit older, I'll be delighted to let them help me all they want.

So now we have learnt you have a love for cake, if you were not baking and where reading, what genre would you normally like to read and do you have any favourite authors?

I’ve always been a big fan of fantasy fiction and sci-fi. In fantasy, a current favourite author is V.E. Schwab. I’ve enjoyed all her books. In sci-fi, I’d heartily recommend all Becky Chambers’ books. She’s a wonderful writer. I’m also partial to a retelling and stories featuring myths. In that area, Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Circe are brilliant.

All authors I’ve never heard of, that will be googled and no doubt added to my ever-growing list. What are you currently reading, are you enjoying it?

I just picked up Susana Clarke’s long-anticipated second novel, Piranesi, from the local library today! I’m really looking forward to it as it sounds like the sort of combination of weird and wonderful, I usually enjoy.

Do you have anything in the pipeline for the future that you can tell us about? 

My second novel, another contemporary romance, is currently out on submission with agents. It’s another uplifting love story, this time set in a beautiful little village in the Cotswolds. If the submissions don’t go anywhere, I plan to self-publish it in spring 2021.

That’s a nice little teaser for us….. The Cotswolds is a beautiful part of the country that I have visited many times, I like it when books are set in places that are familiar, it brings a little reality to the fiction. I look forward to reading it.

Now just for a bit of fun, if you had to pick one what would it be and why?

Book / Ebook

This is such a hard question! Both are great, depending on when and where you’ll be reading. If I really have to choose, I think I’ll go with physical books, but if you ask me tomorrow, I may change my mind.

Hardback / Paperback

Paperback. Hardbacks are beautiful and have a real sense of permanency but can be so difficult to read in bed, carry around and find shelf space for.

Classic literature / Modern fiction

If I had to pick one to take to my desert island library, I’d go for the classics (while crying about leaving modern fiction behind). I read a lot of classic titles for my English degree but haven’t had a chance to return to them since and it’d be nice to read them again and finally read the books I didn’t get to. Plus, I couldn’t leave Shakespeare behind.

Bath / Shower

An easy one! Shower because I don’t have time to relax in the bath.

Morning person / Night owl

I’m not dreadful in the morning, but I think I’m more of a night owl.

City / Country

City. I’ve lived in London and a few large towns and while I know it can be noisy and dirty, there’s always so much to see and do and the sense of endless possibilities makes the city an exciting place. 

Tea / Coffee

A nice cup of tea. I can drink coffee, but only after I’ve filled it with so much milk and sugar that it’s barely recognisable as coffee anymore. It’s also delicious as a cake flavour.

A little bit about the author

Claire Huston lives in Warwickshire with her husband and two children. Art and Soul is her first novel.

A keen amateur baker, she enjoys making cakes, biscuits and brownies almost as much as eating them. You can find recipes for all the cakes mentioned in Art and Soul at clairehuston.co.uk along with over 100 other recipes. This is also where she talks about and reviews books.

If you want to find out more about Claire you can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and Pinterest: 

https://linktr.ee/clairehuston_author

Thank you for taking the time to chat to me today, it’s nice to get to know the authors behind the books that we enjoy to read.

Good luck with the second book, keep us posted as I’m looking forward to reading it.

Art and Soul is available to purchase, please find the link below:

Thank you for having me on your author interview

Claire x