#AuthorQ&A -‘White Leaves of Peace’ by Tracey Iceton

I was absolutely thrilled when Cinammon Press reached out to yours truly and asked if I would write a list of questions for this talented writer.

Guess, then , which blockhead bookblogger then totally got wrapped up in work and forgot to press ‘send’ on her email?

Yep, you got it!

I am extremely grateful to Tracey for being kind enough to answer my questions, despite the delay,with details about her writing process, dream casting and other important things!

1)How important was it to set the novels at the time that you did? 

Setting the novels when I did was crucial because I planned to focus them on particular real life historical events.  So ‘Green Dawn at St Enda’s’ was always going to be a fictional retelling of the 1916 Dublin Easter Rising, the novel’s climax, and the novel starts in 1912 which was the point I felt best allowed me to show the build up of events that led to the Easter insurrection.  I had planned to set the second novel, ‘Herself Alone in Orange Rain’, during the 1970s but once I decided to explore the Troubles from the point of view of a female IRA volunteers I had to shift the period forward a decade to the 1980s as this was the time when women really started to play a significant role as active service volunteers.  And I always knew that’ White Leaves of Peace’ would conclude the trilogy with events from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to 2016.  Originally I had settled on 2016 as I thought I would fictionalise some event that was part of Dissident Republicans marking the centenary of the Easter Rising.  Little did I know that the Brexit vote in 2016 would instead be the climax of the novel.

2)How do you feel it reflects the current situation in Ireland mid Brexit nightmare?

When I was researching ‘White Leaves’, in early 2016 so before the referendum result was known, I spoke to a lot of people in Ireland, on both sides of the border, and asked them what their thoughts were about the implications of Brexit.  They were generally fearful of the consequences of having a hard border and the return to violence that this would likely lead to.  However, one person speculated that Republican activists had moved on considerably from the military campaigns they waged during the Troubles.  He suggested they might take a far more 21st century approach and this struck a chord with me so when writing that part of the novel I developed his suggestion into something of a plot twist.  I just hope that it isn’t something that comes true and that the fragile peace in Ireland won’t be damaged by Brexit, if it ever even happens.

3)Did your PhD research lead to you writing the Celtic Colours Trilogy?

Actually it was the other way around.  I had written ‘Green Dawn’, and had it accepted for publication by Cinnamon Press, before I began the PhD.  I was already thinking about book two when I saw the chance to do a creative writing PhD around the second novel.  I had previously been going to have a male protagonist for book two as the Troubles, at least in terms of the military violence, was a male dominated arena.  But a friend and fellow writer suggested it would be interesting to explore the situation from a female perspective.  Because I wanted my main character to be an active service IRA volunteer I then started researching whether or not this was something women had taken part in, what they had done, why they had done it, how they had felt about the bombings and shootings and, crucially for the PhD, how all this had been depicted in fiction.  From there I saw the potential of a creative writing PhD project and, thankfully, so did Northumbria University who offered me a fully funded studentship for the research.

4)How did you face the challenge of writing from a male perspective in Book 1,’Green Dawn’?

I had already written from a male perspective previously, in the first novel I wrote, Rock God Complex: ‘The Mickey Hunter Story’, which will be published by Cinnamon in autumn 2020 (we held it back in order to release ‘Green Dawn’ to coincide with the Easter Rising centenary in 2016) so this wasn’t something new for me.  And I’d had feedback from a male writing mentor that my male voice was very convincing so I was hopeful I could pull it off again for ‘Green Dawn’(and ‘White Leaves’ which is also a male PoV novel).  For me it is less important what gender the character is and more important to be able to understand the mindset of that character which I did in all cases through researching the type of people I was writing about.  My only concern for ‘Green Dawn’ was writing as a young character but I drew on my teaching background, thinking of boys I had taught that were around Finn’s age and how they spoke, thought and acted.  I think I pulled it off.

5)What was your ‘go to’ writing must have? (as in  environment, tool, snacks, music)

I always write on my ancient laptop (it’s about 15 years old and still runs Windows XP and Word 97) and I have to sit in a comfy armchair – I can’t write creatively unless I’m comfortable and certainly not at a desk, it’s just too formal.  I used to always write with music on (any type of 1970s rock, but Led Zeppelin is my favourite) but now I tend to just prefer quiet.  I drink a fair number of cups of tea (and sometimes coffee) when I write and I love Hotel Chocolat chocolate spread on rice cakes as a quick, energy boosting snack.

Yes, definitely for ‘Rock God Complex’ as music is central to that novel.  But music also plays a role in all the Celtic Colours books, partly because music is an integral part of Irish nationalism in the form of rebel folk songs.  And for ‘Herself Alone’ and ‘White Leaves’, because they are set in my living memory, I could certainly name a few songs from the eighties, nineties and early 2000s that would fit well with various parts of the story, one example is Wolfmother’s ‘Joker and the Thief’ which is actually referenced at an appropriate moment in ‘White Leaves’.

7) How has being a published writer helped you as a creative writing teacher ?

I think it gives me a lot more credibility, I’m a professional writer now because I have published work, as well as gained academic qualifications in creative writing and publishing (I have an MA in creative writing and my BA in was English studies and Publishing).  No one should pay for a creative writing course run by someone who doesn’t have publication credits to their name.  If you’ve been published, whether that’s short stories, articles or full length works like novels (and I’ve been fortunate enough to publish in all three categories) then that’s a mark, I think, that your writing craft is solid, you’ve honed it to a high level and know what you are doing so what you are passing on to people is information about how to write creatively that’s worth knowing.  Being published definitely gives me grounds for saying I’m qualified to teach writing.

8)If a film could be made from your books, or a t.v series, which platform would you choose? e.g Netflix etc or terrestrial tv

I would love it if there was a terrestrial TV series made of ‘Green Dawn’ – I could see it working as a six part BBC drama (if anyone’s listening out there from BBC land!).  But ‘Herself Alone’ and ‘White Leaves’ would be better as feature films I think although I’ve been told that costs related to making TV/films of books with historical settings generally puts off producers unless the writer is a big name like Roddy Doyle or Sebastian Folks.  I’d steer away from Neflixs only because I’m not personally into all that sort of thing.  I just like watching telly on a telly!

9)Who, in an ideal world, would you choose to play William Devoy?

Because William, Finn as he becomes known, grows up during the novel going from being 12 to being 16 it would probably need to be more than one actor to show the change from boyhood to adolescence as that’s integral to who he is as a character and to the plot of the novel.  I’m really in favour of having an unknown actor (a bit like JK Rowling did when the Harry Potter books were made into movies) because not only does that mean you have an actor who comes without any prior associations to other character parts but it also gives that actor the chance to progress their career.  I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had support from others who are more advanced in their careers than I am and I’d been keen to pass that help on to others in any way I could.

10)Who would you love to read the audiobooks of the trilogy and what are you planning next?

I think for ‘Green Dawn’ it would have to be someone from the Irish Republic and I’d prefer it to be a younger actor whose voice would be more like that of Finn’s although I think Cillian Murphy would do a great job – he was stunning in ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’.  For both ‘Herself Alone’ and ‘White Leaves’ it would definitely need to be someone from the north of Ireland.  Any of the female actors who currently star in Derry Girls would be brilliant for the second book, maybe Jamie-Lee O’Donnell who plays the really ballsy Michelle, and someone like James Nesbitt for ‘White Leaves’ although it might be nice if it was different actors reading the book as Cian grows up during the novel (he’s ten at the start and in his twenties by the end) and ideally I’d like younger voices for his childhood and an older voice for when he’s an adult.

After the launch of White Leaves I’ll be finalising the manuscript for ‘Rock God’ which Cinnamon want by June this year.  Then I’ll be working on a novel inspired by the Hatton Garden safety deposit heist.  I’ve already done some planning on that so I’m hoping to get down to writing in later this summer.  And of course I’ll be running more creative writing courses in the north east so people can watch my website for news about that sort of thing – www.trywriting.co.uk

Tracey’s latest book, ‘White Leaves Of Peace’ is the final volume of her ‘Celtic Colours’ trilogy and is out now in paperback!!

Links-http://www.trywriting.co.uk/

https://www.cinnamonpress.com/