Anthony Trevelyan: 'I think novels have a special power to engage with current issues'
BY Maya Fernandes
17th Jun 2025
Anthony Trevelyan is a much-loved member of the CBC tutor team. His first novel, The Weightless World, was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. He contributed a work of short fiction (‘Young Love’) to the Refuge collection and his story ‘Repossession’ was included in Dostoevsky Wannabe’s Cities: Manchester chapbook. His second novel, Claudia, was published in 2018. Anthony is an English and Creative Writing teacher and has worked as a reader for CBC for many years.
We're delighted that Anthony is one of the tutors on our upcoming online Writing Your Novel – Six Months course. He is also a CBC editor providing mentoring and manuscript reports to writers looking for in-depth feedback before formally submitting to literary agents.
We spoke to Anthony about his advice for budding authors and what he enjoys most about working with CBC students . . .
You are an integral part of the CBC tutor team and have been teaching on our courses for a number of years now. What do you enjoy most about working with our students?
CBC students are fantastic! I love spending time in the worlds they create, discussing ideas about how to make their novels work better, exploring the craft and the business of the novel – every part of the process is a joy and a privilege. I’m sharply aware of the ways in which tutorial discussions have led me to reconsider my own work, too. CBC students ask the best, most searching questions, and in my struggles to come up with answers for them I’ve learnt so much about my own motives and practice as a writer.
Your novels push the boundaries of reality, featuring everything from anti-gravity machines to hammer-wielding assassins, but they are also grounded in sociopolitical issues. Do you think authors have a duty to explore current issues in their work?
I don’t think I’d call it a duty. Particularly if someone is writing for adults, I think novelists have few duties, if any – we’re in the business of complicated pleasures and anything else is an extra. I’d hate to put limitations on any other writer just as much as I’d hate to have them put on me. So much said, I think novels have a special power to engage with current issues, and that power may come from the way fiction frees us to speak without the restrictions that inhibit other forms of utterance. In a novel we can talk about things without having to toe a party line, without having to use an official language, without having to adopt socially or politically prescribed positions. We can pose questions through the opposing outlooks of our invented characters; we can refract contemporary realities through the lenses of the fantastic or the absurd. Still, I don’t say that anyone should feel an obligation to do any of this – I genuinely believe people should be able to write about whatever they want – it’s just what I happen to find interesting.
In addition to your high-concept speculative conceits, settings also play a vital role in your writing, from the buzzing streets of Manchester’s Northern Quarter in Claudia, to the vibrant atmosphere of Mumbai in The Weightless World. When you’re developing a new story, what comes first the landscape of the narrative or the new concept you want to explore?
This is such an interesting question – I’m not sure I’ve ever considered this directly. On the one hand, I think that in the case of the two novels you mention, I only really felt I had a book on my hands when the central situation (the premise) came into focus. On the other hand, I suspect both cities, Manchester and Mumbai, were always waiting somewhere in the back of my mind, quietly insisting on themselves, and some part of me had been looking out for an idea that would give me an excuse to write about them. So did the premise suggest the city, or the city suggest the premise? I’m not entirely sure – and perhaps it’s better to live with the mystery!
As well as being an acclaimed novelist, you are also a celebrated short story writer. How does your approach to a project vary depending on the format you’re writing in?
I find my approach varies less and less. For a long time I abided by the wisdom that ‘a short story tells a story, a novel projects a world’ – and I’ve been gradually disabused of that idea. Some of my favourite short stories, such as ‘Good Country People’ by Flannery O’Connor and ‘Agata’s Machine’ by Camilla Grudova, create worlds of a density and complexity that would shame many novels. Now when I’m writing a short story I aspire to a similar kind of novelistic ambition, just, er, using fewer words.
What novel do you most frequently find yourself recommending to others?
I think I’ve gifted more copies of Opposed Positions by Gwendoline Riley than any other book – it’s such a perfectly controlled and complete novel.
Could you share your top three tips for writers who are at the start of their writing journey?
With pleasure! The advice I most often give is:
- Trust your instincts – give yourself permission to write your book, without worrying too much about what anyone else is doing.
- Have a (bit of a) plan – obviously don’t hem yourself in with excessive plotting, but aim to have at least a sketchy outline of the book as a whole. I find a very common cause of book death is a manuscript running out of steam when a writer realises they don’t know where it’s going.
- Don’t re-read yourself while you’re writing your first draft. Writers often lose heart picking over a work in progress, because it isn’t perfect; but no one’s first draft is perfect! Keep going – rather than pore over your manuscript, keep track of your progress with that (bit of a) plan you made – and get to the end, because it’s only going to be then that you can see what your book needs.
Do you have any thoughts on the best way for a writer to get the most out of their Writing Your Novel course?
The course has so many benefits, but I think one of the greatest is the feedback you’ll get from your peers. It can feel intimidating to put your work out there, but the students on CBC’s courses are unfailingly supportive and wildly, brilliantly helpful – they’ll have thoughts for you that come from the very best place, that of a sympathetic reader who genuinely wants to help you make your book the best possible version of itself. I’m not saying unquestioningly apply every single recommendation anyone makes, but every thought will be worth considering for the insight it gives into the ways different readers see your writing.
Do you want to learn more from Anthony?
Applications are open for our upcoming online Writing Your Novel – Six Months course. Deadline 27 Jul.
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