{"id":1098,"date":"2020-01-28T13:53:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T13:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/?p=1098"},"modified":"2020-01-30T10:05:05","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T10:05:05","slug":"caro-ramsay-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.advertizer.co.uk\/insight\/caro-ramsay-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Caro Ramsay Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Her writing has been described by The Guardian as \u201cBlack, bleak and brilliant.\u201d Caro Ramsay is on her 14th novel. Although she was was born in Govan, Caro now lives in what she wryly tells us her publicity often describes as \u2018a small fishing village on the west coast of Scotland; Elderslie.\u2019 We were lucky enough to catch up her ahead of her talk at The Paisley Book Festival this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. What are the best and worst aspects of a writer\u2019s life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best is being able to kill people and get away with it, even if it is only fictionally. An imagination that fires all the time is fabulous, however that means insomnia on the downside. On the plus side I am never, ever bored. I\u2019ve been very lucky but it is a precarious life \u2013 but this is not unique to writers. Writers get more criticism in for one book that most people get in a lifetime. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The best is being able to kill people and get away with it, even if it is only fictionally<\/em>.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Q. Your first two books were written from a hospital bed, I think, can you tell us a little bit about this time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I managed to fracture my spine and spent a long time in hospital- not unwell but just unable to move. I was so bored I was thinking about killing everybody in the ward then a friend brought me in a Papermate pen (they can write upside down) and a clipboard. The rest is history!  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. Did you always want to be a writer? Who inspired\/inspires you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think I had a burning desire to be a writer, but I\u2019ve always been very good at lying. And I do have a very dark side to my character. At 8 years old I wrote a great short story about the song The Teddy Bears\u2019 Picnic. In my story the bears turned on the children and ate them!  I never wander around waiting for the muse to strike, it\u2019s a job like any other but one I enjoy very much. Inspired by PD James,  Ian Rankin when he visited our writers\u2019 group.  And Christopher Fowler is a fabulous writer. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. Your work often deals with some of the most despicable sides of human beings. How do you get under the skin of these types of characters? Does your work scare you? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u00a0have no issue getting inside the heads of very bad people!\u00a0 You just need to ask yourself how far they would go to get what they wanted.\u00a0 My work never scares me.\u00a0 Not when I look at the world around us.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. Of all of your characters who is your favourite creation? And why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asking me for my favourite\ncharacter is like asking who my favourite dog is!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n