Angie Rowe: 'Sometimes the spark of an idea for a good story is something worth hanging on to'
BY Katie Smart
3rd Mar 2021
Angie Rowe was a student on our six-week online Edit & Pitch Your Novel course back in 2018. She recently took our Writing Historical Fiction course. Now her debut historical novel Eaten Bread has been published by independent Irish publisher Poolbeg Press.
We caught up with Angie to find out about the inspiration behind her debut and her advice for aspiring authors…
You joined us for two online courses: Edit & Pitch Your Novel and Writing Historical Fiction. What were the most helpful lessons you learnt whilst studying on our courses?
I took the Edit & Pitch Your Novel course in June 2018. It was obvious from day one that this course was devised by someone who’d been there – I mean someone who’d read their first draft and strongly considered setting it alight. The tips on writing the synopsis and the elevator pitch have been invaluable to me. I sometimes go back into the course modules and read over the advice. Yes, I know I need to get out more, but it’s great advice.
Writing Historical Fiction came just at the right time for me. The course was led by S J Parris, a wonderful writer who’d come up against all of the particular knotty problems that we face when we write about true events or well-known historical characters. The tips on using social norms from our chosen period and the importance of world building were particularly useful. Sound advice no matter what era you’re plunging into.
Many of our students find their writing community on our courses – are you still in touch with any of your course mates?
A Facebook group was set up and we pop-in and out to say hello and catch-up. As with every group some are more active than others. It’s great to have people who will give an honest opinion and great advice.
You’ve secured an exciting three-book deal with Poolbeg Press. How did it feel when you found out you were going to be a published author?
To tell you the truth I’d become so used to seeing ‘No thanks’ in emails that I when I read ‘Yes’ it didn’t quite register. Took several readings before the penny dropped. The reaction to those words ‘three-book deal’, is astonishing. I went around the house saying it out loud. When I didn’t get an email to say there’d been a terrible mistake, I started telling family, friends and colleagues. Everyone has been absolutely delighted and supportive.
Can you tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind your debut Eaten Bread?
It started when I heard two true stories that happened one hundred years apart. Stories that were about generosity and kindness and practical help. I began to wonder if I could link these two stories by creating a fictional family that existed in both time periods. The first true story is the donation by the Native American Choctaw tribe to the Irish Potato famine victims in 1847 and the second story is around events that happened during the harvest of 1946.
Eaten Bread opens in 1946 with the arrival of a member of the Native American Choctaw tribe to a rural farmhouse in Ireland. He is a stranger to the house, but he knows about the unusual carvings in the old wooden mantlepiece.
Do you have any words of wisdom for the aspiring authors reading this?
I can only repeat the solid advice that others have given: read everything, write every day, get the first draft down.
But there’s one thing that isn’t true, though I’ve seen it written lots of times – You won’t publish your first novel. By the time you’re published you’ll have several abandoned manuscripts under your bed.
But it does happen. Eaten Bread was started four years ago during the first writing class I took. In fairness, the first draft bears only a passing resemblance to the final book – thanks to good editors – but the core story is the same. Sometimes the spark of an idea for a good story is something worth hanging on to.
Finally, what’s next for you and your writing journey?
I’ve started on my second book – working title ‘The Replacement’ – which is about a woman who disembarks the Titanic at Cobh – the ship’s last stop before heading out into the Atlantic. The woman says she’s come to Ireland to join her husband. She doesn’t mention that her husband has been dead for fifteen years. Had the ship not met its icy fate, her lie, and the real reason she came to Ireland, would never have been discovered.
Hope to have this ready by the end of the year.