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July 10, 2022 • 50 mins

Charlie and Chloe Timms (The Seawomen) discuss Chloe's dystopian fictional religious cult in all its fantasy and reality, the major changes she made to the book as the editing progressed, and her own interpretations of the various parts of the ending.

Please note that there are spoilers throughout the episode.

Some podcast apps do not show description links properly unless the listener subscribes to the podcast. If you can't click the links below and don't wish to subscribe, copy and paste the following address into your browser to access the episode's page on my blog: http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/podcast/episode-64-chloe-timms

The blog post that mentions the Bridport Prize, 'Fighting Self Doubt and Embracing Writing Opportunities'
The Bridport Poetry Prize
The Faber Academy
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale
Kirsty Logan
The Literary Consultancy
Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock
Confessions Of A Debut Novelist

Question Index

01:01 You say on your blog you'll mention Your Bridport Prize for Poetry longlisting at every opportunity. I've introduced it - tell us about it
02:32 How did you find your agent?
05:58 [Reading]
10:49 Can you tell us about the starting point of this novel - the idea, the inspirations, etc?
13:57 Is Esta important for herself or more for what she represents?
17:04 Is what we're talking about to do with the major structural change?
19:22 Why mermaids and selkies?
22:04 The way you incorporated the seawomen, the concept etc, was that always the plan?
24:59 Did you ever consider keeping the untethered women alive?
26:24 Cal, a man, helps Esta to see what was going on. Can you talk about your use of him here, how he came to be the defining moment of that point of the book?
29:11 When in Esta's life is the narrative being written?
30:50 What are The Otherlands to you, what are they like?
33:33 What's the importance of having the men in the dark - or are they?
35:52 Should Mull be forgiven?
37:08 Where does the grandmother fit in terms of her belief and what's going on?
40:33 Does Esta survive?
42:07 What happens to Cal?
43:47 Is Esta's mother okay?
44:15 What's next?
45:41 Tell us about your podcast, Confessions of a Debut Novelist
48:02 [Chloe discusses our conversation, the detail etc]

Purchase Links

The Seawomen:
Amazon UK
Waterstones
Hive

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Photograph used with the permission of the publisher.

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