📖Authors To Watch: Paul Carnahan, Author of HOW SOON IS NOW? #authorstowatch #interview

 

  

 

Paul Carnahan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in the new town of Cumbernauld. After studying journalism in Edinburgh, he began a decades-long career in local and national newspapers.

‘How Soon Is Now?’ is his first novel. The second, the Britpop-era romance ‘End of a Century’, will be released early in 2025, and a third is currently a work in progress.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.paulcarnahan.com 

Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/pacarnahan  

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/paulcarnahan6/ 

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211423352-how-soon-is-now

What was the hardest plot point or character to write in your latest book, How Soon Is Now?

The character arc of my lead character, Luke Seymour, took a great deal of work to get right. He has to go from troubled cynic to someone who believes humans can actually travel in time, then from a wounded, defensive individual to a man who chooses to take on a perilous, potentially self-harming, mission purely because it’s the right thing to do, in order to help others.

‘How Soon Is Now?’ may have a high-concept plotlline – 'what if we could go back to relive any previous part of our lives?' – but the people within it all have to feel absolutely real. So that was the biggest challenge – realistically depicting how any one of us might respond to and ultimately embrace a fantastical situation.

What is your favorite part of How Soon is Now?

There are so many! I loved writing the college reunion scenes which show the slow evolution of Luke’s acceptance, understanding and mastery of his newly-discovered time travel skills. Approaching the same scene from multiple angles, with slight variations each time, was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed the research involved in creating the individual stories of each member of the Nostalgia Club – the eccentric gathering of time travellers who recruit Luke. If I have to pick an absolute favourite part, it’s one very small action which completely changed the direction of the book as I was writing it. It wasn’t planned, and it made ‘How Soon Is Now?’ a very different – and far better – book than my initial plans. I won’t spoil it, but it involves one character whispering in another’s ear...

If you could change one thing about any of your books, what would it be?

So far, nothing at all. Both ‘How Soon Is Now?’ and my second book, the Britpop-era romance ‘End Of A Century’ (due for release next February!) went through so many revisions that the final versions are exactly as I’d want them to be. 

What is a snack you couldn't write without?

Toast. Toast is under-rated. All of the sweeter, saltier, showier snacks get all the love, but toast is always there, quietly and unassumingly being delicious and warming. Toast is fantastic, and not enough people acknowledge this fact.

What's the first thing – ever – that you remember writing?

My primary school diary. We each had a little blue exercise book and, first thing every school day, my classmates and I would write down our news from the previous day. The first thing I remember writing in this diary – and it’s stuck in my mind because everyone in my family thought it was hilarious when they saw it – was the story of my dad scolding me for sitting on the couch upside down (complete with stick-figure drawing of myself, upside down on the couch).

If there was one thing about your writing life that you wish you could change, what would that be?

Not a thing! I'm free to tell the stories I want to tell, and I get to write them in the comfort of my beautiful office, with my family, cats and dogs around me. It is, as a wise person once observed, a wonderful life.

 

 

 

A troubled ex-journalist launches a perilous mission into his own past after being recruited by a mysterious group of time travelers.

Luke Seymour uncovers the secrets of the eccentric Nostalgia Club as he battles to solve the riddle of their missing leader, honing his newly discovered – and dangerously addictive – talent for time travel and plunging ever deeper into his own time stream … where the terrible mistake that scarred his life is waiting.

Set in Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1980s, 1990s and near-present, ‘How Soon Is Now?’ is a gripping new novel loaded with unforgettable characters, intricate storytelling, dark humour and a unique twist on the mechanics of time travel – all moving towards a powerful and emotional climax.

Available at:

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/How-Soon-Now-powerful-travel-ebook/dp/B0D1RG2GL5 

Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Soon-Now-powerful-travel-ebook/dp/B0D1RG2GL5