Interview with Carol Fenlon

I like a practical mid-range ballpoint with a comfortable grip. I never buy fountain pens, gel pens or rollerballs. I am sometimes given these as gifts but I rarely use them so they stay in a drawer to be admired. I also often use a HB pencil but keeping it well-sharpened is a distraction.

carolfenlonstationery

My favourite notebooks are A5 Moleskines. I love the thin paper which means they last for ages. I tend to ask for these as gifts and use them for long term projects like writing a whole novel or collection of short stories. I always carry a small Moleskine notebook in my handbag for jotting down ideas etc. Additionally for each novel or full length non-fiction I start I use a student type divided notebook with sections for character, plot, plans, references, research etc. Cheap and practical I don’t worry about brand as long as it suits the purpose. I also have a weakness for pretty hardback notebooks and seem to end up with a large collection of these which I use for short stories and occasional poems.

I use a lot of sticky notes in bright colours for marking up references as I read. I use sticky labels for all the different notebooks I am using at once for various projects. I use a lot of plastic wallets/sleeves and cardboard folders to keep separate stories, work in progress, critiques etc.

You cant you wont I write dark novels and short fiction, and am also currently working on a history of my home town. My first novel, Consider the Lilies (2008) won the Impress Novel Prize. I have published many magazine stories and articles and in 2016 published two short story collections: Triple Death and Plotlands. My latest publication (June 2017) is a co-authored autobiography of Gary Skyner, the thalidomide comedian and motivational speaker, You Can’t, You Won’t published by Troubador. My next novel Mere, a dark ghost story of Lancashire’s lost lake, is to be published by Thunderpoint Books in May 2018.