Liz Evans: 'Catherine Wheel explores the impact of emotional abuse and gaslighting'
BY Emily Powter-Robinson
31st Jul 2024
Liz Evans has studied on several of our courses including Starting to Write Your Novel and our three-month online Writing Your Novel course. Her debut novel Catherine Wheel is out now in Australia with Ultimo Press.
We spoke to Liz about imposing writing deadlines, psychologically nuanced protagonists and her tips for those looking to apply for a creative writing course.
You studied on our online three-month Writing Your Novel course in London in 2017. How did studying with us impact your approach to writing?
My first experience with CBC was the six-week Starting to Write Your Novel course, which I had been eyeing for a while before finally signing up. I’ve been a professional writer since 1988 but had never tried fiction, and it felt like more of a risk than journalism and academia – more exposing, I guess. A friend urged me to take the course, so I did, and I absolutely loved it. After that, I did the three-month course with Lisa O’Donnell while traveling across Europe and the UK with my family. The impact was significant. I produced 10,000 words of my what would become my novel, and used this to secure my scholarship-funded Creative Writing PhD at the University of Tasmania.
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met on the course?
Funnily enough, on Lisa’s course I met another British journalist living in Australia, also called Liz! We finally met up in 2022, when I went to the Blue Mountains for my first fellowship at the Varuna Writer’s Centre, as she lives in the area. We connected on so many levels, and she was one of my one of my beta readers for Catherine Wheel. Even more strangely, she owns a beach shack in Tasmania, almost next door to another writer friend here. She’s working on a second manuscript now, and I am very excited about it!
Your debut novel Catherine Wheel is a literary commercial novel about the impact of coercive control on two very different women, at the hands of the same man. Can you tell us a bit more about the book and the inspiration behind it?
I have been an avid reader of psychological thrillers for decades, but the ‘Girl’ publishing phenomena introduced a wave of psychobitch characters, which I found extremely problematic. Unlike the more psychologically nuanced protagonists in books by Erin Kelly, Helen Dunmore, and Harriet Lane, suddenly novels were teeming with psychotic, homicidal women, hellbent on revenge. I found this reductive, psychologically inaccurate, and ultimately misogynistic. Having trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist, I felt very strongly about this, and decided I could do a better job!
Catherine Wheel explores the impact of emotional abuse and gaslighting on two very different women and considers the trajectory of their own relationship in light of their combined trauma. Motherhood plays into this situation too. I wanted to create unlikeable, damaged, vulnerable characters who were not psychopathic, and who could instil a level of empathy in the reader, while simultaneously horrifying them. I wanted them to be relatable – but only just!
Catherine Wheel is set against a backdrop of saints, ancient ghosts, mystical forces and long-buried tragedy. How did you go about conducting your research for the novel?
During the 1990s, I published two books on women and rock culture as a way of attempting to address the structural misogyny of the music industry. After I gave up music journalism, I gained an MA in Jungian and postJungian Studies, which gave me a solid grounding in psychoanalytic theory. So I’d already done my feminist and psychoanalytic research well before writing the novel!
In terms of the backdrop, St Catherine’s Chapel came to me via PJ Harvey’s song, The Wind which is about the tiny ancient chapel in Dorset, where Polly grew up. The lyrics are about Catherine of Alexandria, who was tortured on the breaking wheel by a Roman emperor (hence the name for the firework), but who ultimately defied his cruelty by sticking to her beliefs and refusing his marriage proposal. In a peculiar twist of patriarchal tradition, the chapel became a place for young women to offer up prayers for a husband. For me, the chapel is a symbol of contradiction that begs questions about women’s agency and toxic masculinity, and how we make meaning of ourselves within relationships. It also helped to inform the location in my novel, and opened up multiple narrative layers, including slightly supernatural ones.
As a journalist and researcher, you must be very used to writing to deadlines. Did you impose similar deadlines to keep yourself on track when writing your novel?
Having worked to deadlines for decades, I knew I would probably need this type of discipline imposed on me if I were ever to produce a novel, which was one of my reasons for enrolling with CBC. I wanted that accountability, as well as the opportunity for feedback. The PhD also provided me with a structure, and later, of course there were deadlines from my agent and publisher.
You’ve previously written non-fiction books on various subjects including music, film, women’s issues, and more. You’re clearly an accomplished writer – did you face any unexpected challenges when writing your first fiction book?
The main surprise with writing fiction was how much I enjoyed it! I was also very pleased to discover that I could actually do it, because I hadn’t written any fiction since secondary school, and had no idea if I would manage to pull it off. There are so many things to be aware of when you embark on a novel, including seeing it through, and being prepared to edit. Luckily, I’m an experienced editor, so I love that part of the process, and the PhD helped me get to the finish line.
Do you have any tips for the aspiring authors reading this who are thinking of applying to a writing course?
I would say absolutely apply! I am always recommending CBC to writers because of the consistently good standard of teaching, and the alignment with the publishing industry. If you are serious about your work, you need to understand the significance of a strong pitch letter, as well as how to write convincing dialogue and believable characters. I now teach creative writing at university, and my experience of studying with CBC continues to inform me in this role too.
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I am currently writing my second novel which is partly set in the music industry and focuses on envious attack. I also have plans to write a memoir one day. I was one of the very few British women writing for the rock press during the 90s, and I have a lot to say about that time, and my experience of working in that field. There was a time when I was the only journalist in the world who Eddie Vedder would talk to, and yet, I was treated appallingly by certain publications and male editors. So, there’s quite a lot to say!
Catherine Wheel is out now!