Q&A with Sadbh Kellett

In a rare occasion, we have published two pieces of fiction this week! “Adrift” by Sadbh Kellett brings you straight into the wild Atlantic waters. We loved the description of the sea and the way it serves as a place of escape and gathering. Katie Moats, one of our editors, discussed with Sadbh Kellett what the writing process can look like and what inspires writing in the first place.

I thought you did a great job with weaving in character details about our narrator. When you approach writing a story, do you start with an idea about a character first, or a plot? Does your writing tend to be more character driven or plot driven?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate that! I tend to start with a concept first, like I’ll know I want to explore a particular theme or setting, but until I hear the voice of a particular character, I can’t really access the story. In the case of “Adrift”, I knew I wanted to write a love letter to Achill and the Irish surf community, but it wasn’t until I met the characters that I really found my way into exploring these two things. I find if my characters are strong enough, they’ll take me where I need to go plotwise! So yeah, I’d say my writing tends to be more character driven.

Can you walk us through your writing process? 

If it’s prose – particularly longer pieces – I’ll let a story slowly unfold in my mind for a while before I commit anything major to the page – usually I’ll make playlists, moodboards, write short stories that are in conversation with the longer project, and consume as much art and research related to the idea until I simply just need to write the novel and then it all sort of pours out of me. I’m definitely more of an exploratory writer in the initial stages of the first draft, but as I get more comfortable with the characters and where the story is going (usually about thirty per cent of the way in) I’ve found that stepping back and writing something resembling a film treatment is an incredibly helpful way of keeping on track with the rest of the novel instead of getting caught in a mid-draft slump. Once I’ve finished, I’ll leave it for a hot minute before reading through, tidying up anything I notice and sending it off to my agent for her initial thoughts!

For short stories, I tend to write them in one go if that’s in any way possible so I can keep the momentum and language of the piece in tune. I’ll then leave them alone and go work on something else before coming back to them with eyes afresh. I’ll edit another draft before swapping work with another writer, and I’ll just keep doing rounds of edits until it reaches a point where it feels ready to start sending out. I think I’ve become a lot more accepting of the fact that writing takes time – even shorter pieces. I used to want to start sending things out pretty much as soon as I’d written them, but now I know it’s better to hold off and let things simmer. I wrote the first draft of “Adrift” in 2023 and just kept chipping away at it in between working on my novel drafts.

What are you reading right now? What sort of stories are you most excited to write?

 So I’m reading Wounded by Percival Everett. I’m fascinated by Everett’s ability to manage space on the page and how precise his language is. I feel like when I want to edit better, I turn to Everett. I’m also currently making my way through Taylor Jenkins Reid’s audiobooks at the moment. I’m so impressed with how she handles large casts and I love how her books bleed into one another.

I’m really drawn to writing stories in which women take up space where they’re not normally seen or heard. I think it’s really important to keep pushing the boundaries of how women are portrayed in art and to normalise women having textured, active and adventurous lives full of movement and complex feeling, particularly in the face of so much rising anti-feminist rhetoric.

What makes you want to write?

I guess it’s sort of a compulsion – there’s no ‘making’ about it really. I am driven to create, be that through writing, music, art – it’s just something I feel compelled to do all the time. I feel so deeply restless when I’m not writing or being creative in some way. There’s such a give and take with writing that I cherish – as much as things in my life inspire what I want to write about (e.g. surf holidays in Achill), I also feel like new projects open up so much opportunity for living too. My novel Black River’s Song, is a western, and in the process of writing it I found my way back to both horse riding and playing guitar for example, and reinvigorating both those skills opened up so many new aspects of my life, like collaborating with musicians, and of course, meeting new and interesting people!