Nick is 54, married, with two teenage children aged 19 and 15 respectively. He grew up in Derby, where his novel is set, but has lived in the French Alps for almost 30 years. He spends his time reading, running, and skiing, as well as coaching kids and adult football, both male and female.
Meet Nick McLoughlin
Questions on Writing
What is the hardest part of your writing experience?
Giving myself permission to write. As so far I have earned no money from writing and very few people have read what I have written, I find it very difficult to justify spending hours alone putting words down on paper.
What have you learned about yourself when writing?
That I am extremely disciplined but lack ambition and drive.
Do you make yourself write everyday/regularly, or only when inspiration strikes?
If I didn’t force myself to write regularly then I would write nothing, and regret it.
What does literary success look like to you?
Writing something that I am happy with and that touches a reader in some way.
How much planning/world building do you do before writing, and how much comes along as you write?
I have a central idea, perhaps a character or theme. Generally I think I know where the story will end up before I start, but I am usually wrong. Most days I sit at my desk with a general idea of where I’m going and what is going to happen, but only as a result of what I have written in the preceding days. And most days the characters do things that I had no previous idea about.
What was it about this story, this genre, that really attracted you?
When my father died, someone told me an anecdote about him that made me want to write about male friendship. And I wanted to recapture a moment in time when I was in my early teens. In the end the book is set in the 1980s, but it is more about familial love than male friendship.
Do you have any celebrations planned for publication day?
Gosh, no not all, should I have? I am still struggling with imposter syndrome and find it very difficult to advertise the fact that I have written a book at all. I am hoping to work on this a bit.
Questions on Books and About You
Firstly, the most important question, what books are currently ‘on your bedside table’?
Three volumes of poetry (Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Elizabeth Shane), Ackroyd’s biography of Dickens, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, a book club read.
What children’s book would you suggest every adult read?
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend.
What does your writing space look like?
A piece of wood balanced on books between a vanity desk and a bedside table in the spare bedroom.
How many books do you think you own?
Over 1,000.
Who is your literary icon?
Charles Dickens.
If you could own one rare/1st edition copy of a book, which would it be?
Oliver Twist.
Is there an author who you always read?
Paul Auster.
And finally, are there any plans for any new books? If so, what teasers can you give us?
Yes, I am 50k words into the first draft of a second novel. A boy is wrongly blamed for a friend’s death and spends years as a result in and out of reform schools, borstals and prison. But his memory of the event in question has been shaped by the adults around him and he is unaware that he was not to blame. He must recover the truth and his own self-worth in order to reconcile with his mother, who has been in a psychiatric hospital since he was a little boy.
Thank you Nick😊It’s lovely to meet another Dickens fan!
Nick McLoughlin’s Books
Books By Your Bedside 