I have recently read Small Blue Thing by S.C. Ransom and I really enjoyed the book. I am finding now that I am writing here and doing author interviews that I pay more attention to bio’s in the front of the book.
If something catches my attention I know that I need to start hunting down the author to see if I can interview them and share their story. There were quite a few inspiring and intriguing snippets in the back of Small Blue Thing so I sought out S.C. Ransom in her UK home at Nosy Crow so that we could all get to know her a little bit better.
I’m glad I did and I hope you enjoy what she has to say as much as I did.
What made you want to become a published writer?
I had absolutely no plans to become a published writer – it’s all been a bit of a surprise, but having written the first book it was fantastic to know it was going to be in the shops.
There is quite an interesting story behind the writing of your debut novel, what can you tell us about that?
I wrote the first book, Small Blue Thing, as a birthday present for my daughter, Ellie. I had been reading some of her books and realised that most of them were set in the States. That started me wondering how much fun it would be for her to have a book of her own, set where she lives and involving people she knows. I began planning and then writing and it all grew from there.
It was remarkably easy to write: my only aim was to entertain and I had one very specific reader in mind. Once it was done the feedback from my daughter and her friends persuaded me to talk to a couple of professionals and before I knew it I had a three book contract!
You wrote the bulk of Small Blue Thing on your blackberry, I can’t imagine how that would work. How much data can you store in there?
I’ve got a full time job as well as being a Mum, so finding time to do anything is a challenge. When I first had the idea about writing Ellie a book I knew that I would have to squeeze my schedule somewhere and I ended up writing in the time I used to spend reading, during my daily commute.
I was travelling for about an hour a day on the train, which was perfect, but my laptop was far too heavy to carry in every day. At the time I had just got myself a BlackBerry with a touchscreen, so I decided to use that instead. It took a bit of practice but I found I could manage about 600-1000 words per day. I wrote in the notes files and emailed them to myself at the end of every trip. At the weekends I had a mammoth task of assembling the jigsaw of files into something sensible. I’ve no idea how much data I could store in it – it never ran out.
Where did the inspiration for the Small Blue Thing trilogy come from?
I wanted the story to be set in a world which Ellie knew – West London, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Thames, Kew Gardens, and I knew that she was enjoying the vampire/paranormal romance genre so there had to be a serious love interest.
I made the heroine seventeen and wrote it in the first person so that Ellie could believe that something like that could happen to her. Really, all I did was write a story which I hoped would be readable!
What can you tell us about Small Blue Thing and it’s sequels?
At the beginning of Small Blue Thing Alex finds a mysterious bracelet in the mud at the edge of the River Thames. When she wears it, it gives her a connection to Callum, a strange reflection who only she can see. He drowned in the river and now lives in St Paul’s Cathedral, one of the biggest churches in London. Alex quickly falls for him before it all starts to go horribly wrong: she finds out that he has been lying to her, and the decision she makes about who to trust could cost her best friend her life.
Alex’s story continues in Perfectly Reflected and then in Scattering Like Light. I can’t tell you too much about their plots without revealing what happens at the end of the first book, but I can tell you life doesn’t get any easier for her. There are some great nasty characters, who I loved writing, and hopefully the readers will enjoy too. One tip though– don’t read the back of the other books before you have finished Small Blue Thing!
How does your daughter Ellie feel now, seeing Small Blue Thing on shelves and knowing it’s in countries across the world, and knowing that it was written specifically for her?
She thinks that it’s all a bit weird that thousands of teenage girls around the world are reading the story which was written just for her, but she hopes that they will enjoy it nearly as much as she did. I did ask her if she minded before I submitted it though, but as her original version is subtly different from the one on the shelves she knows she still has something unique. I know that she’s very proud.
Are any of the characters based on people around you?
Alex is the sort of girl who Ellie might become as she gets older, and I used the names of some of her friends and mine for the nice characters. Everyone else is fictitious, including Callum, sadly!
Is there an actual myth relating to Dirges or is Callum and his existence completely a product of your imagination?
Callum and the Dirges are entirely new. I knew that I needed a love interest who was gorgeous, possibly dangerous and utterly unobtainable (as I wrote it for my own daughter there was never going to be any hint of anything inappropriate!). I made a list of all the various types of mythical beings; vampires, zombies, wizards, werewolves and the like, but none of them had what I needed.
So I decided to make up my own set of people, invisible to almost everyone, constantly miserable and preying on the happiness of others to survive. My husband came up with the name Dirge, and it fitted them perfectly.
I’m sure I saw somewhere that Small Blue Thing was Nosy Crow’s first publication, how does that feel?
I still can’t quite believe it! I had been put in contact with Kate Wilson (now the CEO of Nosy Crow) to see if she would give me an opinion on whether the book was worth sending to a few agents. At the time she had just left the big publishing group Headline and was considering what to do next. She says that reading my manuscript made her realise that she wanted to stay in publishing and as a result she brought forward her plans to start Nosy Crow. It was a leap of faith for both of us, but she gave me the company’s first contract, and has worked tirelessly to help me. In return I’ve written the best books I can for the rest of the series and am doing as many events and interviews as I can to support the launch in all the different countries. I’m delighted that this is my first Australian interview!
You have quite a full schedule with work, family and writing. After Scattering Like Light are there more tales to tell?
Yes – I’ve definitely got the bug now. I’ve got a notebook where I keep jotting down thoughts and ideas, and some are slowly taking shape. What I’m enjoying most at the moment though is being able to read. I’ve been so busy writing for the last two years that I’ve read very little and I have a huge pile to catch up on.
And finally, what does being a woman mean to you?
Being constantly busy! There are never enough hours in the day to fit in everything that I want to do so I’m always compromising. One of the lessons I’ve learned as I have got older is that you don’t always have to be perfect but you have to be happy with your decisions, and that’s one of the things I’m trying to teach my kids.
Thank you so much for your time, it’s been lovely getting to know you a little better and an honour to be your first Aussie interview!
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!