Debut Spotlight: Faith Hogan

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Faith Hogan to the blog as part of the blog tour for her debut novel My Husband's Wives which is published on 1st May. 

Faith Hogan was born in Ireland. She gained an Honours Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree from University College, Galway. She has worked as a fashion model, an event's organiser and in the intellectual disability and mental health sector.

'My Husband’s Wives' is a contemporary women's fiction novel set in Dublin. She is currently working on her next novel. She lives in the west of Ireland with her husband, four children and two very fussy cats.

She was a winner in the 2014 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair - an international competition for emerging writers.

Follow Faith on Twitter at @GerHogan or like her on Facebook Faithhoganauthor or, if you’re really interested, you can catch up with her on www.faithhogan.com

Hi Shaz,

It’s lovely to be here, I love your blog, it always gives me a bit of a lift when I drop by and my, what a long list of authors you have spoken to, I’m joining some very prestigious names, thank you!

Can you tell us a little bit about your debut novel My Husband’s Wives? 
Sure, the novel is a contemporary women’s fiction story. It follows the events in the lives of four women who find themselves thrown together after the death of the one man they all loved. Ultimately, it’s a tale of friendship and triumph. I suppose, it was born from the notion of What if… and that grew from the idea of one event sparking a chasm which changes so many lives. We are all connected, no matter how we may try to hide or dislocate and in My Husband’s Wives, those connections are what create the opportunities for the main characters to become who they want to be.

Describe My Husband’s Wives, in one sentence:
It is a story of love, suspicion and misunderstandings.

How did your writing journey start?
How long have you got?

Seriously, I’ve been writing for years. For many years it was scraps of poems, unfinished short stories and then of course, C.V.’s for friends, letters that had to be just right or helping with assignments! I’ve an interesting and varied c.v.! But I was always going to write, in that, I always knew I would write books, I wasn’t always convinced people would want to read them, but somewhere along the way that changed too.

Do you have designated writing hours or is it a case of fitting in writing around your home/work life? 
Oh yes! This is the part that non-writers balk at! I’m up before the sun in winter and often in summer too! I draw the line at anything before half four, but I’ve been known to set the alarm clock so I’m sitting at the desk before five (that’s only if there’s something that just HAS to be written.)

The thing about books is, that 100k words don’t just get written, but on the other hand, you can’t freak out about it, because if you did, you’d never start. So, I write in the mornings, and I love getting up before everyone else, I love the silence and then, a little later the birds outside.  Sometime after that, cars will begin to pass along the road and then it’s time to get everyone else up for the day and it’s onto the real job!

What can we expect from you next?
I absolutely loved writing My Husband’s Wives, I’d never written anything like it before, so it was a real buzz. Then, I moved onto the second book for Aria and it’s completely different, but I must say, it too, was a great joy to write. It gripped me from the word go and I had to keep going until it was all down.

At the moment, we haven’t agreed a title, but I can say it’s set in a seaside village and it’s an unlikely love story, in that it doesn’t turn out as you might expect, and yet, when I finished writing it, I just went, aww… (you can’t beat the warm fuzzy feeling, can you?)

Books and characters are a little like that, they take me where they’re meant to be, and sometimes it’s as surprising for me where we end up as it will be for the reader (I hope!)

What advice would you give to other aspiring writers?
I think good writers are born, but there is no doubt, that the best writers are the ones who have written and re-written and maybe repeated that process ten times over. So, first, I’d say, when your book is done, do as you’ve heard probably a million times already; find a very deep drawer, bury it there for as long as you can tolerate (a minimum of six weeks) and when you read it, enjoy it as if you’re reading someone else’s work. 

The other thing is write, every day and don’t give up! 

Real writers, write not for a book deal, but because they can’t not write, the deal is the icing on the cake.

So, write and enjoy it!

Finally are you going to treat yourself to something nice to celebrate publishing your debut novel?
My mother says ‘a girl can do anything in the right shoes!’ so…

Paul Starr, Ireland's leading cardiologist dies in a car crash with a pregnant young women by his side.

United in their grief and the love of one man, four women are thrown together in an attempt to come to terms with life after Paul. They soon realise they never really knew him at all.

The love they shared for Paul in his life and which incensed a feeling of mistrust and dislike for each other, in his death turns into the very thing that bonds them and their children to each other, forever.

As they begin to form unlikely friendships, Paul's death proves to be the catalyst that enables them to become the people they always wanted to be.