Author and podcaster Ve Schwab talks home, writing, roots and success …
VE Schwab was born in California, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She studied at Washington University in St Louis, and at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to writing, she hosts a podcast called No Write Way. She is the author of 25 books. Her latest, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (Tor) is out now.
ON HOME I was raised in California and Tennessee. I spent most of my 20s travelling and moving around because nowhere felt like home. It wasn’t until I arrived in Edinburgh for the first time when I was 22 that I felt all of the silt just settled. I wanted home to have the meaning of a refuge, a nest, so I bought a flat by the sea in Portobello, Edinburgh, with views of Arthur’s Seat and a three-block walk to the bay. It’s where I do 95 per cent of my writing.
ON FAMILY I’m an only child so I’m incredibly close to my mother and father. My mom is a five-foot Englishwoman and my dad is a petite man from Beverly Hills. They’re the most important people in the world to me.
ON ROOTS My dad comes from Hollywood royalty of sorts. His family ran Schwab’s Pharmacy, a soda shop on Sunset Boulevard which was featured in a lot of TV shows and films. So he grew up with a soda fountain in his room, and a red Corvette. My mum’s parents emigrated to America when she was ten. They were deeply impoverished and her father died when she was eleven. My mum’s side goes back through Glasgow, so the Scottish roots are there.
One of my ancestors was a lady-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots and ran away with a footman, so we’re technically Stewart.
ON WRITING People look at how prolific I’ve been and assume it’s sheer narrative desire, and a lot of it is, but the reason I wrote middle grade YA and adult simultaneously for most of my 20s was because I couldn’t afford to do it any other way. I wasn’t getting six and seven-figure deals. I was cobbling together a life that worked. I’m not a fast writer. What I am is a fairly relentless creative, which means most days of the year I’m writing.
ON MY DESK I do the vast majority of my writing in the morning because the longer the day goes on, the more excuses I have not to do it. One of my favourite things about living in the UK is that I get five hours of work done before the US comes alive. I write in a notepad with a timer on my phone. It’s so helpful. I’ll start with ten minutes if 25 minutes is too daunting.
ON SUCCESS My definition of success is no longer having to scramble for purchase with every single book. Publishing so often feels like roller-skating uphill – the moment you stop pushing you slide back. If you’re not making active upward motion you’re failing in some way. On my good days, success is a belief that I might at least stand still.
ON BOOKSHOPS Portobello Books is half a mile from my front door. The luxury of having a local bookshop in my neighbourhood is great. Writing is a lonely profession. I often work in the coffee shop next door to the bookstore and the staff will pop in and ask me to sign a book for a customer. It’s nice to have a sense of community and home, I guess.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (Tor) is out now.
