A Thousand Words Festival

Hi Cat, thanks for chatting to us about your recent debut Forgotten and other bookish things. I thought we could talk about memories because really how do we build a life without them?

I agree! Ask away!

 

How did you go about creating a character that had no memories of her past?

Did you feel at times that you needed to forget what you knew about her so that it didn’t colour the way you wrote her?

Once I had the “rules” of London’s memory, it wasn’t that difficult to create her world. I did find that I needed to forget—or ignore—what I’d written the day before in order to truly walk in London’s shoes each new day. That said, I began writing the book when my twins were five months old, so being forgetful came easily.

It must have been complex remembering what London is supposed to know each day. Did you have a particular system that you used to keep track of all the threads in the story?

I created a lot of timelines, and did a lot of re-reading to make sure I wasn’t breaking any of London’s memory rules.

The idea of remembering forward provokes some interesting thoughts on the fixed nature of our future. London experiments with this by trying to change some of her own memories, but she has the luxury of forgetting if things go wrong. How fixed do you believe the future is? Would you fight to change it if you knew what was coming?

I think our futures are always changing based on the decisions we’re making now. If I knew something bad was coming, I’d definitely fight to try to change it.

How did you manage to show London’s memories of the future without giving away too much or impacting the suspense and momentum of the book?

Great question! I did some reverse timelines, writing down the biggest “reveal” then listing the points that I needed to include to get there in the end. Then I made sure those points were weaved into the story. But honestly, the mystery just sort of clicked into place one day. One day it wasn’t working, and the next it was. I think that’s how a lot of ah-ha moments strike: suddenly and without warning.

We see so much manipulation in the book because of London’s method of keeping track. How did you choose who she would be able to trust, and how did you develop their relationship in the book?

In initial drafts, only London’s mother knew about London’s condition. That was great for the mother/daughter bond, but it made London’s relationship with Jamie less meaningful. When I let Jamie in, so to speak, it was much easier to develop her relationship with London because they knew each other’s secrets. Jamie knew about London’s memory and London knew about Jamie’s future. That added a nice layer of specialness to their friendship that was fun to explore.

Were you ever worried that readers wouldn’t be on board with the concept?

Did you have a group of trusted readers that you tested the book on first before taking it around to agents and publishers?

Of course! FORGOTTEN is very high concept and requires a certain suspension of disbelief: I definitely wondered if the general population would be willing to say, “Okay, this girl remembers forward instead of backward.” Thankfully, readers seem to be on board. But yes, I do have a mini test group of dear friends—and Hubby!—who I look to for early feedback.

As a debut novelist who caused quite a stir when publishers started reading your book, what advice would you give to young writers?

My biggest piece of advice is to keep at it. Writing takes practice, and books don’t write themselves. I’ve heard so many people tell me that they want to write but don’t have time. As a mom of twins, I think we make time for what we want to do. And finally, read. So often, I finish a great book and find myself even more inspired to work on my own projects.

What is at the top of your book pile right now?

I’m reading, and loving, THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett, and just finished DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth, which was amazing. On my to-be-read pile: A GAME OF THRONES by George R. R. Martin, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE by Laini Taylor and A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL by Suzanne Young.

Thanks Cat, we loved Forgotten and we can’t wait to read what you have in store for us next!

Thank you!

 

Read more about Cat and her work here