An Interview with Julie Cohen

(image credit  - Ruth Ng)

An Interview with Julie Cohen

Please tell us everything we need to know about your most recent book!

THE TWO LIVES OF LOUIS & LOUISE is an alternate-reality book about gender. In one reality, Lou Alder is born female; in another, Lou is born male. Everything else about their life is the same—same parents, same best friends, same small working-class paper mill community. But because of the gender assigned at birth, everything is different.

It was longlisted for the Polari Prize for LGBTQ+ books and it was selected as a 2019 book of the year by The Reading Agency, Stylist, Woman & Home, and Fabulous Magazine. And it’s been optioned by Enderby Entertainment to be adapted into a feature film, directed by Oscar-nominated director Lisa James Larsson.

How did you get into writing in the first place, and how did you first get published..? Has it been a long and difficult road, or has it been straightforward?

I’ve been writing all my life and wrote my first ‘novel’ aged 11. But I didn’t start writing seriously for publication until I was in my 30s. My first three novels all got rejected, but I signed with an agent in 2004, and soon got a publishing contract for a completely different novel about a month later.

I think that my career since being first published has been more difficult than the many, many rejections before I was published. I’ve got more at stake now than when I was writing for fun, because my writing pays all of my bills. I probably have more self-doubt now than I did when I first started out, for the simple reason that I know more about all the things that can go wrong. But I still get a huge thrill from seeing my books on a shelf, and I still find writing itself to be one of the most difficult and fulfilling things that I have ever done.

How would you define the genre that your book falls into?

I think it’s literary/commercial crossover fiction, what’s often called a ‘book club book’. But it’s also feminist fiction, and it’s LGBTQ+ fiction, and it’s a love story. And because of the alternate reality ‘Sliding Doors’ structure, it’s been called science fiction too. It was definitely inspired by Virginia Woolf’s ORLANDO, but also by Ursula K LeGuin’s THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS.

Why did you fall in love with this genre in the first place, and which books / authors / series would you recommend?

Hmmmm well genre-bending literary/commercial feminist crossover fiction? Aside from LeGuin’s book, which I think everyone should read, I’ve recently loved THE SUMMER OF IMPOSSIBLE THINGS by Rowan Coleman (time travelling love story), THE POWER by Naomi Alderman (feminist science fiction dystopia), and one of my absolute favourites, the SAGA series by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples (space opera/family drama/intergalactic war graphic novel series). It’s one of my goals for this year to read more feminist science fiction, so hit me up with recommendations!

You’ve worked in all kinds of different genres. How important is it for you to take a zig-zag path, exploring all these various kinds of story-telling?

These days I write what I’d call literary/commercial crossover fiction, but I started out my career writing romantic comedy novels for Mills & Boon and later, Headline. I’ve written what’s called ‘chick-lit’, and I’ve written book club fiction, and I’ve written erotica, and erotic science fiction. I’ve dabbled in a bit of mystery. My next novel, SPIRITED, is a lesbian historical ghost story (out in July). I would love to write for comics, and I’m dying to write some feminist crime and some biting social satire. Until recently I was the official cartoonist for The Sherlock Holmes Journal (in spite of the fact that I really can’t draw).

I worry that it’s a problem, because I see that very successful authors are often writing the same sort of book over and over again, but making it fresh each time. Maybe I get bored easily, but I really like to change things up and try new types of story.

Is there a genre you couldn’t imagine ever writing in..?

I always said I could never write a historical novel, but then I went and wrote one! I would be pretty rubbish at writing a sports novel, because I hate sports. I love reading true crime but I hope I’m never close enough to a crime to write a book about it.

Do you take elements of characters or overheard phrases from people you’ve observed..?

I would love to say that I do this! But the truth is, I have a terrible memory. So while I think I am pretty observant, I most often forget things that I’ve observed. I guess these observations do filter into my subconscious, though, and become things that I later create.

What are you going to write next..? Are you going to be working in the same vein? What can we expect next..?

I’m working on another literary/commercial crossover novel with a science fiction premise, to be published in 2021. I’m hoping I can pull it off.

Finally… tell us something surprising about yourself that your readers might not already know..!

If you follow me on social media you already know that I love to dress in drag, that I’m a huge fan of the TV show Hannibal, that I post way too many Gillian Anderson gifs, that I came out as bisexual in my 40s, and that I have a Master’s degree in Victorian fairies. I’m not sure I have any secrets left!