Welcome to the weekly Irish Independent Authors Collective (IIAC) author interviews. Today on my blog, I’m delighted to introduce you all to Linsday J Sedgwick. I hope you all enjoy learning more about Lindsay and be sure to check out her books.

Irish Independent Authors’ Collective – Lindsay J Sedgwick

Tell me a little bit about yourself and why you decided to join the Irish Independent Authors’ Collective?

I had been mulling on the idea of getting a few independent writer friends together to hire a room and just try to sell our books, with readings. I’d talked to a few people but had done nothing about it so when this came along, I jumped at it!

How long have you been writing and why did you decide on self-publishing?

Professionally, since the mid-80s, initially as a freelance journo writing plays and books on the side. In 1995, I gave up most of the journalism to focus on creative writing and wrote two plays that won awards. There was interest in one as a script and I’d already had some success writing for a couple of TV programmes (Fair City, Scratch Saturday) so in 1997 I went to Leeds to do an MA in Screenwriting. I’ve worked in TV and film ever since, but also (more recently) writing narrative and character for games. I have about eight hours of credits but I was frustrated with the number of developed scripts and projects that never got made so in 2010 I started turning my family films into books.

In 2016, I got a Screenwriting Residency in Maynooth Uni and Kildare Co. Council Library & Arts Service. By then, Dad’s Red Dress had been to Irish publishers who thought it too edgy and then all the way up through Penguin to Random House where it was deemed not edgy enough. I decided that it had to have something to have got that far and began to look at self-publishing. Aoife Henkes, the daughter of a friend who had just finished graphic design in Ballyfermot College offered to do the cover and I realised this was what had been finally holding me back because I didn’t know what to ask for or where to look. I published Dad’s Red Dress in Feb 2017, The Angelica Touch in Feb 2018 and Write That Script in May 2018.

Do you think the stigma surround self-publishing is lessening?

Yes and no. There is a very clear division between ‘traditionally published’ authors and indie publishing in terms of festivals and being able to apply for most residencies. The indie publishing world is very supportive and the stigma has lessened hugely from the days when it was ‘vanity publishing’ but there is still such a wide spectrum in the area in terms of quality that there may always be some stigma.

What do you feel the hardest part of self-publishing is?

Marketing. Promoting.

What genres do you write?

I don’t really write in genre and I think this has an impact on marketing. I write stories I love, characters that are complex and interesting and have problems to resolve. Because my first two central characters were 13 and 14 years old, they have been put in the YA sections of bookshops and reviewed by Children’s Books Ireland; Dad’s Red Dress has also been put into the LGBTQ section in some stores because Jessie’s dad is about to transition. But they’ve both been read and enjoyed by readers of all ages from 10 to 70 around the world. YS/ Crossover maybe?

My last book was non-fiction, Write That Script, based on 21 years of teaching screenwriting at all levels, with writing exercises geared at helping you to put the theory into practice and finish your script. It has been much easier to market than the novels!

What is your favourite story or character that you have written?

I love all my characters, even the evil ones. I guess you invest in the characters you’re writing at the present time but I do have a soft spot for Laura, Jessie’s seven-year-old kid sister in Dad’s Red Dress. She wears a veil, wants to be a nun and thinks she was abducted by the Virgin Mary twice, once on a motorbike. She’s probably a version of me! But I love Angelica in The Angelica Touch too; her mistaken attempts to matchmake her mum and make the world a better place make her very vulnerable.

What time of day do you prefer to write?

I find last thing at night, in bed, I do great editing and brainstorming. I love working in cafes, between meetings or at the start of the day when I don’t feel like looking at the computer. I take a few chapters or scenes or a problem I need to resolve and just play with it. Alternatively, if I can get back to the desk in the evening I often do better work than in the morning. I do give myself deadlines – they work magically on my motivation and ability to focus.

Do you have a special writing space?

I built a shed in my yard but ended up moving back into my front room because it got too cold in the winter and was too bright in the summer to see the screen! I like being able to see life go by but it does mean I get interrupted a lot more!

Do you outline your books ahead of time or just go for it?

The first two novels were tightly outlined because they were based on scripts; although they did change a lot, the basic structure was always there. The screenwriting book had a structure based on the subjects I taught and grew from that.

Of the books I’m currently working on, one is a sequel to Dad’s Red Dress. I knew where I was going to start and end it but I didn’t have the narrative structure in place when I began. Whenever I could find half an hour, I brainstormed the stories and issues that each character might face, then picked a timeline within which the book would occur and tried to outline it from there. It’s taking longer to write because there I have too many threads of storylines and am trying to be ruthless.

Candlemist, my new book, began as mad scribblings in a notebook. The sheer size and volume of material meant that I kept returning to it, trying to find the structure and then it would overwhelm me. I’m finally nearing draft 1 after ten years. It’s fantasy though so there is a whole world to create and then peel back so it doesn’t impede the story. I think that not having a structure in mind did mean I was a lot more creative and it is so much fun to write!

Your latest novel, The Angelica Touch is a YA/Crossover, what was the inspiration behind it and is there anything you would like readers to know?

I developed the story when I was a single mum, feeling my daughter’s envy when she saw other kids being carried on their dads’ shoulders. A BBC producer I was working with mentioned how the six-year-old daughter of a single friend of hers would drag stray men across the playground to her mum, along the lines of ‘I need a dad and my mum needs a husband’. It’s about a 14-year-old who decides that she can’t have a boyfriend of her own because it’s clearly only because her mother has had to raise her along that she’s still single. She leaps from this to the conclusion that her mother must be lonely and decides to fix this by setting up a dating website. Of course, nothing works out as she assumes it will but it’s quirky and ultimately uplifting. I’d describe it as a romantic comedy of errors.

Is your latest book part of a series and if so how many books are planned for the series?

Not this one but I’m working on a sequel to Dad’s Red Dress.

Where can readers find out more about you?

My website is www.lindsayjsedgwick.com; my online bookstore is https://www.ecwid.com/store/janeymacbooks/
I have a blog: https://thiswriterscrazylife.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LJSedgwick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsayjsedgwick/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsayjanesedgwick/

The Angelica Touch by Lindsay J Sedgwick

The Angelica Touch is an upbeat and humorous romantic rollercoaster set in Donegal during the first three months of 2010. It’s about doing something for the very best of reasons that makes everything worse… until it doesn’t. Angelica, 14, has reached three conclusions. Firstly, her mother Molly, who manages a rundown hotel on the wild Drisogue peninsula in Donegal, is desperately lonely. (She’s not.) Secondly, it’s entirely her fault that Molly is still single. (It might be.) Thirdly, since she can hardly have a boyfriend of her own if Number Two is true, it’s up to her to find her mother a man. (It really isn’t.) Given her dangerously impressive gift for matchmaking, Angelica’s solution is to develop a dating website for her mum. With questions devised by Angelica and best friend, Grace, what could possibly go wrong?

The Angelica Touch is available now in paperback and ebook from Amazon along with all Lindsay’s other books too so be sure to take a look.

Until next time,

Keep reading and writing,

Amanda