{"id":2643,"date":"2025-05-15T15:34:01","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T14:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/?p=2643"},"modified":"2025-05-15T15:44:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T14:44:52","slug":"qa-with-emily-barr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/qa-with-emily-barr\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Emily Barr"},"content":{"rendered":"

– We<\/span>\u2019re delighted to welcome you to the YALC socials, would you like to introduce yourself?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you! I\u2019m Emily, and I\u2019ve been a professional writer for my whole working life, starting as a journalist at the Guardian and going on to write 22 novels for adults and young adults. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I live in Cornwall and love swimming in the sea all year round, though I don\u2019t stay in long in the winter. This time of year, when the water is starting to warm up and the days are longer, is my favourite. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Could you introduce your new book to us?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to! The Other Girl is an identity-switch thriller in which two girls, Tabbi and Ruby, meet on a high speed train in France and decide to swap places. Both of them are in a bit of trouble, and both are delighted to run away from it. The question is, which of them is pulling the strings? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And if you had to do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two girls swap lives (with a word to spare!) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– The Other Girl is a twisty thriller, with an identity swap at its heart \u2013 what inspired the storyline for you and was the book always a contemporary mystery – where did the story begin? <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d been wanting to write an identity switch book for years. I love the idea of two people swapping lives: there\u2019s so much inbuilt tension in the scenario and it\u2019s interesting to consider what might actually happen if you tried to do it. I\u2019d made notes for this book a year or two ago, and decided this was the time to sit down and write it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At that point, I just tried to work out what would be the most fun thing to happen at every point. Both parties trying to double cross each other? Both of them lying about where they were actually going? A five star hotel that turns out to be a rehab centre? I just had fun with it all the way. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What drew you to set the book on a train? Have you had any memorable train journeys that looking back could have played a part in Tabbi and Ruby\u2019s story?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love travelling by train: it\u2019s always my preferred way of going anywhere even though the trains to and from Cornwall, where I live, can be incredibly unreliable. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago I went to a YA festival in the Netherlands, which was absolutely brilliant. I travelled there by train, and loved the journey. Watching unfamiliar places going by, looking at the other passengers and wondering about their lives \u2014 looking back, that trip might have planted the seeds for this book. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Travelling and escape are common themes in your work \u2013 are you drawn to tell these particular kinds of stories?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am! I don\u2019t know why but I absolutely love writing about travel and about people running away from their lives. I love the energy of those stories. I\u2019m always happy when I\u2019m travelling and although I don\u2019t get to do it as much as I\u2019d like, I am definitely always up for an adventure. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– There are clear lines between the rich and poor in The Other Girl \u2013 can you tell us a little about the inspiration for exploring this dynamic?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived in Cornwall for the past 16 years, and it\u2019s something that\u2019s very noticeable down here, where wages are way below average and rents \/ house prices are sky high because so many homes are now holiday lets. Money makes a huge difference in aspirations and possibilities for young people in particular, and it\u2019s so unfair. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So I wanted to explore the dynamic. When Ruby, who has grown up with very little, suddenly finds herself living a rich girl\u2019s life, is it surprising if she finds herself reluctant to switch back? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What was the book that made you a reader, and was there one that made you a writer?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The one that made me a writer was Cat\u2019s Eye by Margaret Atwood. I read it in my teens and I remember thinking I want to write a book. I\u2019m not sure what it was about that book, but it massively inspired me. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The book that made me a reader? I\u2019ve always loved books, for as long as I can remember, so I\u2019m going to say the first book I remember being read to me, which is Rosie\u2019s Walk by Pat Hutchins. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What is your favourite genre to read\/ write in?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love writing YA. I remember my own teen years so clearly, and I also have three young adult children. I think there\u2019s something so brilliant about writing a coming of age story. Although I\u2019m not at all a young person any more, I also love reading YA. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I also adore thrillers, both to read and to write. If there\u2019s a twist I haven\u2019t seen coming I am always absolutely delighted. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So I guess I\u2019m not surprised that I\u2019ve ended up writing YA thrillers. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Where do you write?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a surprisingly complex question! I start the day writing at my desk at home. It\u2019s in front of a window and I like seeing people walking their dogs in the early morning (I also occasionally see drug deals being done but we can gloss over that). At this time of year there\u2019s beautiful dark pink blossom on the tree outside which makes me incredibly happy. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then I generally go out to do another writing session in the cafe of our local theatre, the Hall for Cornwall. It\u2019s the sort of cafe where a lot of people write, and I often meet my friend Natalie down there so we can spend a couple of hours writing together. Then I\u2019m home again in the afternoon, which is usually time for other work \u2014 I read my writing students\u2019 work and write feedback, or do admin, reply to emails and so on. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Have you read anything brilliant recently?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So much! I loved Sara Barnard\u2019s new book, This Song is About Us. I love the gentle, insightful way she writes coming of ages stories. I\u2019ve also really enjoyed Cynthia Murphy\u2019s new book Keep Your Friends Close. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I also loved A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and The Trouble With Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden \u2014 a total joy for any Jane Austen lover.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you so much Emily for joining us today!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– We\u2019re delighted to welcome you to the YALC socials, would you like to introduce yourself? Thank you! I\u2019m Emily, and I\u2019ve been a professional writer for my whole working life, starting as a journalist at the Guardian and going on to write 22 novels for adults and young adults. I live in Cornwall and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2649,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions\/2649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}