Louise O’Neill is the award-winning Irish author of a debut
that’s stirring up the YA world with its darkly powerful story – Only
Ever Yours. Louise kindly agreed to chat with me about the inspiration
behind the novel and what the experience has been like for her.
Q. Hi Louise! Before we get onto the questions about Only Ever Yours, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
A. I live in Clonakilty, a small town in west Cork. I studied English
Studies at Trinity College Dublin and then completed a post-graduate
diploma in fashion buying at DIT. I moved to New York in 2010 to work
for the senior style director of ELLE magazine. I left New York to
return to Ireland and begin work on my debut novel, Only Ever Yours.
I love reading, yoga, the theatre, wandering around art galleries for
hours, and going for long walks in the countryside by myself. My goal in
life is to be kind to everyone I meet. Some days that's easier than
others.
Q. What authors did you read growing up, and who most inspired you? Can you name a particular book that left an impression on you?
A. I read voraciously as a child but there are certain authors I
remember being particularly enamoured with. C.S. Lewis, Enid Blyton,
Roald Dahl, Philip Pullman were favourites. Paula Danzinger, the
Babysitters Club, and the Sweet Valley High were also. My mother would
buy me and my sister a lot of books and these tended to be classics
(Swallows and Amazons, Treasure Island, A Little Princess, The Secret
Garden) or books by Irish writers. (The O' Brien's Press logo was a huge
part of my childhood.) As a teenager, I read The Handmaid's Tale by
Margaret Atwood. I've been very vocal about the impact that book had on
me. It changed my life, really. It introduced me to feminism, it gave me
a vocabulary with which to express myself, and it was a huge influence
on my own book.
Q. What has it been like, having your debut novel published and
shortlisted for multiple awards (as well as winning at the Irish Book
Awards last year)?
A. As this is my debut novel, this is the only experience of being
published that I have had - so in a way, I have to remind myself not to
take this for granted. To win awards is so wonderful especially as it is
a marker of how much work my editor, Niamh Mulvey, and all the team at
Quercus have put into this book. For me, the most gratifying thing is to
meet people who have read the book and have connected with it on such a
deep emotional level. That's why I wrote OEY in the first place.
Q. So - Only Ever Yours. I am aware the idea for the novel had
roots in your own personal experiences - would you mind telling us a
little about that?
A. Looking back at Only Ever Yours, I can see how my personal
experiences have influenced the book. I attended an all-girls convent
school from the age of 4 until I was 18 so I'm very familiar with the
dynamics of a single sex education. I also battled with eating disorders
for many, many years and those body image issues are very much
reflected in the pages of this book.
Q. What did you find to be the easiest and most difficult aspects of writing Only Ever Yours?
A. This book just seemed to flow, freida's voice came through very
strongly from the beginning and I never suffered from writer's block.
Some parts of the book were difficult to write because they were so
fraught, emotionally, and brought up some painful adolescent memories. I
was crying while I wrote certain scenes- which is why I could never
write in coffee shops ala JK Rowling!
Q. Which character in the novel do you personally most identify with, and why?
A. There are aspects to all of the characters that I can relate to.
While freida is not based on me, her vulnerability and uncertainty with
who she is as a person is something I can definitely empathise with,
especially when I was younger.
Q. Only Ever Yours conveys young women with multiple body-image
issues, under the constant scrutiny of social media networks. Did you
intend to cover such a vast range of issues, and how do you feel about
the social media lens through which much of the modern world is seen?
A. I actually had to cut quite a lot from the book. My wonderful editor
highlighted many passages where I was overloading with yet another
'issue', and a lot of it wasn't adding to the story. I'm not against
social media, I'm very active on Twitter and I love it. I think social
media can be a great way to meet like-minded people, to share ideas, and
to help with the quick, efficient dissemination of information. The
danger lies when we become reliant on 'likes' and 'favourites' for our
sense of self worth. True self esteem can ONLY come from within.
Q. The ending is quite shocking and bleak - I personally found
the novel all the more powerful for this - but, playing devil's
advocate, do you think it might be difficult for readers to filter a
positive message from what they've just read?
A. I always planned for the book to end this way and I feel it's the
only way the book could end. It needs to be shocking, otherwise the
message of the book is lost in a way. Dystopian fiction is supposed to
act as a warning, as a parable for us - and if there had been a happy
ending, then what would we have been warned about?
Q. As dystopian novels go, the world of Only Ever Yours is
wonderfully detailed and believable. How much of the world outside the
school have you thought about? Might we ever see another book or story
from you that explores it?
A. I didn't think too much about the world outside the School because
freida doesn't know anything about it and I wanted to convey that sense
of confusion. I'm not planning on writing anything else in this genre
for the foreseeable future but if I was to return to the world of Only
Ever Yours, I would like to write a prequel from Darwin's perspective to
explore the ideas that gender stereotypes are harmful to men as well.
Q. Lastly, can you tell us a little about upcoming projects or
plans? I believe you also have a second novel - Asking For It - coming
out later this year, can you reveal anything about that?
A. My second novel, ASKING FOR IT, will be published by Quercus on
September 3rd. It was inspired by the Steubenville case but I have based
the narrative in a small town in west Cork. It deals with issues of
rape culture, victim blaming, and consent.
Huge thanks to Louise for the interview. She can be found on her website at louiseoneillauthor.com, or follow her on Twitter: @oneilllo.
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