This month, The Writing Barn is thrilled to feature Austinite Carolyn Cohagan, author of The Lost Children and Time Zero, as well as writer and director of several short films.
Don’t forget to join us at The Writing Barn this July 27th for our monthly Words & Wine Wednesday, where Carolyn will be participating in a discussion panel about her newest YA release, Time Zero, as well as signing copies of her book which will be sold at The Barn.
RSVP HERE
Austin Author Spotlight Interview with Carolyn Cohagan
Tell us a bit about your latest book. Where did you get the idea for it?
Time Zero is about a 15-year-old girl living in a future Manhattan that has been taken over by extremists. What makes the book unique is that all the religious rules have been taken from existing fundamentalist religions, including those that originate in the United States. Each rule that the heroine, Mina Clark, follows is governing the life of a girl somewhere in the world right now.
What did you find most challenging about your current novel?
The narration is first person present and my hero is an uneducated 15-year-old girl. I struggled to find the balance between being true to her background and using the vocabulary and metaphors I instinctively wanted to use.
Which books or authors have inspired you the most?
Shirley Jackson: The Lottery, Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451, Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle, Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale, Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go.
What everyday experiences inform your writing?
A wise person once told me that if I was having a problem that was blocking my writing, I should give that problem to my character. If you have a headache, give the hero a headache. If you are feeling a deep loss, make your character experience a deep loss. Your characters become much more relatable and real, and you will find it much easier to move through writer’s block.
Do you have any advice for budding authors?
Be patient. With all the publishing opportunities out there writers are tempted to publish as soon as they’ve finished a first draft. But your first short story or novel is rarely your best work, and your first draft NEVER is. Show your writer friends a rough draft but NEVER let it out into the world. You will regret it like that first time you got sick on Screwdrivers.
We feature a post on our site called Rejecting Rejection, where authors discuss their reactions to past rejected works. How do you, as an author, deal with rejection?
I did stand-up for many years, so I’m pretty thick skinned. Sending out a book, I know the worst thing that can happen is people will say “Not interested,” or “I didn’t like it.” No one is going to yell, “You’re crap,” or “Get off the stage!” So if you want to feel better about your book rejections, I recommend you go do an open-mic at a comedy club.
How long have you lived in the Austin area?
I grew up on Lake Travis on land my great grandfather bought, so my family has been in Austin a long time. I moved away for twenty-three years and came back two years ago. I love being home, but I still have difficulty accepting the traffic and some of the growth Austin has experienced.
What do you think of the literature community here in Austin?
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the community here. I moved back here after ten years in LA and I had an extensive group of writer friends there. But the longer I am here, the more writers I meet, and I find everyone really supportive.
Is there an Austin hotspot that you enjoy going to for a little writing or brainstorming time?
My favorite place to write (and I am not sucking up) is The Writing Barn. It is so peaceful and feels removed from the rest of the world. I wish they held Write Away Days every week.
Carolyn Cohagan began her writing career as a stand-up comic, performing in comedy clubs all over the world, including New York, Chicago, London, and Amsterdam. After studying physical theater at the Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, she began to write and perform one-woman shows, traveling to theater festivals from Edinburgh to Adelaide. In Los Angeles, Carolyn wrote and directed short films, worked for Slamdance and the LA Film Festival and was a red carpet host for the Independent Spirit Awards.
Carolyn’s first novel, The Lost Children, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010, became part of the Scholastic Book Club in 2011, and was nominated for a Massachusetts Children’s Book Award in 2014.
In the fall of 2013, Carolyn traveled to Rwanda as an Arts Envoy working for the U.S. State Department. She taught a vast array of writing workshops, including Teaching Critical Analysis, Using the Three Act Structure in Screenwriting, and How to Use Storytelling in the Classroom.
She has a BA in Art History from Barnard and an MA in Writing from USC. Carolyn has recently returned to her hometown of Austin where she founded Girls With Pens, a creative writing organization for girls 9-17.
For more information about Carolyn Cohagan and her work, visit her site. Photo Credit: Jessica Doffing