Author Interview - Amanda Huggins
- Submissions Northodox Press
- Oct 17
- 4 min read
What was your inspiration for The Blue of You?
I had two short stories published a year apart by The Willesden Herald – one about a young woman desperate to leave her hometown on the North Yorkshire coast, and one about a woman returning to hers after many years away. It was only when the second one was published that I realised they were about the same character, and that there was a longer story waiting to be told. My short fiction has often inspired my long form fiction, and The Blue of You actually includes edited excerpts from several stories, and even lines reworked from my poetry. I am always writing about the sea and about the vagaries of the human heart, so it’s often the case that various fragments and passages from shorter pieces fit seamlessly into the novel I’m working on.
‘The Blue of You’ is actually the title of a song which runs through the entire novel – tells us a
bit more about its significance.
I wanted the song to reflect Janey’s journey – you could describe it as an entire soundtrack contained within a few verses – so it does have a lot of heavy lifting to do. It is a song she carries in her head and her heart from the moment she first hears it in the Anchor pub. The lyrics tell the story of a couple leaving a dead end town behind and embracing life on the road as they pursue their own promised land. It links Janey to several other characters in the novel as well: Billy, her boyfriend; Rory, her first love; Alice, her best friend. Music is also important to Janey because of her da, who is now living abroad. The music they both love forms an invisible thread which ties them together, and – just like in the Bruce Springsteen song ‘Bobby Jean’ – she imagines them listening to the same song on the radio even though they are hundreds of miles apart. The song reappears in the final scenes of the novel, when we discover the real reason it means so much to Janey, and that the lyrics are still telling her story.
Why did you choose a coastal setting and how did you make the fictional town of Langwick Bay feel real?
I grew up on the North Yorkshire coast, and that entire coastline, as far up as Northumberland, has always been truly inspirational for me. I wanted the pull of the sea to bring Janey back from London to confront her past and find a way of life which could reconnect her to her roots. It’s a landscape I know well and feel close to, and the fictional town of Langwick Bay is a town stitched together from many of the villages on that stretch of coastline. In fiction, as well as in real life, characters’ feelings and decisions are shaped by places as well as by people, and so the need to create an immersive setting has always been of primary importance to me in my work.
Are there any titles/authors you would compare your work to?
I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that my work is on a par with any of the writers I admire, but I hope The Blue of You would appeal to readers who enjoy character-led literary fiction with a strong sense of place, such as John Boyne’s ‘Elements’ series, Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire or The Coast Road by Alan Murrin.
Do you have any further novels planned?
Yes, I am currently writing a novel with the working title Wilder than Before, which draws from my own experiences of growing up as an adoptee, examining the way adoption shapes the lives of everyone involved. It explores the nature/nurture conundrum, how we love and are loved, and questions what makes someone a mother. The main characters’ stories chart the different paths they follow as a result, and the highs and lows of rejecting a so-called ordinary life. The novel also explores the ways motherhood affects every woman – whether they become a mother, lose out on motherhood for one reason or another, or reject it outright.
What are your preferred genres to read?
I probably read more literary fiction than anything else. I have too many favourite writers to list, but off the top of my head they include Claire Keegan, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alice Winn, Yoko Ogawa, Louise Kennedy, Helen Dunmore, Tessa Hadley, Patti Smith and John Boyne. I also enjoy speculative fiction, memoir, and the occasional psychological thriller, as well as travel writing and biographies. I usually have two books on the go – my current nonfiction read and a novel. I buy a lot of books, but I borrow plenty from the library as well, and that gives me the opportunity to take a chance on new authors and genres.
What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author?
Don’t be afraid to share your work with the world. When I talk to aspiring writers, they often claim their writing will never be good enough to submit and that they’ll need to edit it for another hundred years first. Learning to take rejection on the chin is very important in this writing life. The worst that can happen is that someone – in fact, probably quite a few people – will say ‘no thanks’. It’s almost never personal, and more often than not it isn’t even about your writing per se. However, I know it’s a downer, and I think one of the ways to lessen the pain is to dilute it. The thing that helped me when I was starting out was sending loads of work out all the time, to different journals, publishers and competitions. That way, you’re not hanging on for weeks or months waiting to hear about a single piece of work – there’s always something else out there which may get accepted. But make sure you keep track of what you’ve sent where, and check if they take simultaneous submissions! Good luck!
The Blue of You by Amanda Huggins will be published on 23rd October 2025. Order your copy here:
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