How I Write: Laura Evans

Getting into the writing process …

Laura Evans was born in Burnley and grew up in the Midlands in the UK. She completed Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic studies at university before a career as a magazine editor, with a particular interest in travel and nature. A graduate of Curtis Brown Creative’s novel-writing course, she lives with her family in Norwich. Her debut novel, Little Wild (Mantle Debut), a story of class tensions, secrets and first love set in Suffolk in the 1930s, is out now.

My daily writing routine is not as routine as I’d like it to be. When I’m mid-story I could happily do nothing else for days, but like most parents who write I’ve had to adjust, and largely I think that’s a good thing. I write (around other work) when the children are at school; if I’m not too tired, in the evening; sometimes a little on a weekend. There’s a lot to be said for the advice to produce something daily, however small – but if hours are limited I’d prioritise reading every time. Writing isn’t just the act of putting words on the page; reading fuels the thinking, and thinking fuels the work.   

My writing spot is currently a box room overlooking our street. Because it’s so small, the furniture has to be slightly miniature: a chaise longue in front of the window even I, at 5’3”, can’t fully lie on; a compact desk. (Facing the wall, because given any distraction I will daydream for hours.) Over the years I’ve written in coffee shops, libraries, on the kitchen table surrounded by children’s art – and sometimes I still do, but it’s such a gift to have the choice. 

My favourite part of the writing process isn’t a stage per se, but the almost physical sensation of things clicking into place. Sometimes it’s a detail uncovered in research that perfectly connects two plot points; sometimes it’s just the sense of capturing something human and universal. If I had to boil down why I write to a single reason, that’s what it would be: those tiny moments of ‘yes’. 

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