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First Writes: LA MacRae

In this Q&A, we throw some questions about ‘firsts’ at debut authors. This month we feature LA MacRae, author of And Now The Light Is Everywhere, an Argyll-set novel of family secrets and redemption

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First Writes: LA MacRae

What’s the first book you remember reading as a child?

The Katie Morag stories, written and beautifully illustrated by Mairi Hedderwick. How I longed for a Grannie Island of my own who was equally at home on her tractor, at the tiller of a boat, or hoicking her prize sheep from a bog and washing them in the bath. I’m now getting to introduce my own children to Struay and its inhabitants, and what a pure joy it is.

What was the book you read that made you decide to be a writer?

It’s not really a matter of deciding so much as leaning ever closer to a flame. Discovering poetry in my teens really fed the fire. As Pablo Neruda describes it so very beautifully in ‘Poetry’: ‘and it was at that age . . . poetry arrived in search of me.’ I remember encountering this poem at the age of about 16 or so and thinking ‘yes, this is how it is.’

What’s your favourite first line in a book

‘It was the day my grandmother exploded.’ So opens The Crow Road by the late, great Iain Banks. What a belter. 

Which debut publication had the most profound effect on you?

O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker’s first and only novel. If you haven’t read it yet, I envy you.

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up on a writing day?

Write. No getting out of bed, no nothing; just open the laptop and get going. With two tinies and a full-time job, a writing hour (never mind a day) is a rarity to be cherished. Besides, that liminal state between sleep and full wakefulness sometimes produces interesting results. 

What’s the first thing you do when you’ve stopped writing for the day?

Attend to whatever it is that’s forced me to stop: a wail, a yelp . . . 

Picture: Archie MacFarlane

In a parallel universe where you’re the tyrant leader of a dystopian civilisation, what’s the first book you’d burn?

My teenage diary. 

What’s the first piece of advice you’d offer to an aspiring novelist?

Write the book you want to read. Starting will be the easy part, so finish it; even if it’s a sair fecht.

LA MacRae: And Now The Light Is Everywhere is published by Hodder & Stoughton on Thursday 7 March.

 

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