Spooky middle grade author, Fionna Cosgrove 🦇
Meet Author, Fionna Cosgrove 🖋️ 👻
Spooky middle grade Perth author, Fionna Cosgrove, loves all things macabre, mysterious and menacing!
Q) How long have you been writing, and what inspired you to start?
✍️ I have been writing for about ten years now. Feels a bit weird to write that number. It both feels like ages, and no time at all.
I can't tell you what inspired me to write, because I have no idea, but I can pin point the moment I started writing down to one evening. I was sitting on the couch bored (pre-kids obviously, I haven't had the luxury of boredom since their births) so I grabbed my laptop and thought I might just jot down a few words.
A few words became a sentence, then a paragraph then a page, then some more, until I had a few chapters of a middle grade fantasy. I sent it to my sister who told me 'it didn't suck', and then I immediately went and looked up all of the writing courses and competitions that I could find. I haven't really taken a breath since.
Q) Tell us about Sadie—what sparked the idea for this book?
🕸️ The Goosebumps series is such a nostalgic part of my childhood and when I started to write RL Stine was a big influence. I just found his work so fast paced and action oriented, and his attitude so un-pretentious that it made this whole writing gig feel actually attainable.
Pair that with the fact that all my writing immediately leaned towards the twisted and macabre, writing a spooky middle grade felt like the obvious next step. I came up with the ending for Sadie before anything else. A lover of a good twist I had the perfect one in mind, then it just took a year and a half to figure out how to get there!
Q) Do you enjoy being scared yourself? What are some things that genuinely frighten you in real life?
🎃 I don't. I used to. I used to love watching scary movies with friends, screaming and diving under covers then laughing hysterically afterwards, but not so much anymore.
I think what I love more than anything is being curious and intrigued and I love the feeling of my world getting bigger. And the paranormal is a big catalyst for that. I love listening to podcasts on ufo's and aliens, and watching Unsolved Mysteries and reading all of the cryptid books and ghost stories! I think that's where my spookiness lies - everything and anything paranormal!
These things don't usually scare me too much, though after a particularly deep dive into ufo lore and personal alien abduction stories I started to avoid going out at night - that's when I knew I needed to pair it back a little. Oh - and my biggest all time fear - CLOWNS. Hate them. My friend held a tomato up to her nose once, and I cried.
Q) If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would you choose, and what would you do together?
👨🏫 Hmmm. Great question. I think Professor DeVolfe from Sadie and the Secret of the Swamp. At first appearances he seems like a grumpy scientist with a big ole chip on his shoulder, but once you begin to unravel the mystery his life becomes a whole lot more interesting. I'd also like to spend a day with Churchill from Camp Crypt - I quite like to cook and I think he'd have some pretty sweet recipes to share.
Q) What advice would you give to aspiring authors looking to write for middle-grade readers?
📚 Write what you love. Don't try and tailor to market or trends - they will no doubt change by the time you finish your book. I think if you're always writing what you enjoy, readers can feel it. Even if it's weird. Or perhaps even better if it's weird.
Q) Can you share your exciting launch plans or events coming up!
🚀 Sadie and the Secret of the Swamp launched on October 26 at the State library! I also have a couple more markets to do before the end of the year. Though they can feel like a logistical nightmare to pack everything up and organise your life to get it to happen, I get a post market high every time, I inevitably meet a bunch of teachers that I chat all things kids books too, and it's always nice to see a little extra cash in the writing kitty for upcoming ideas.
I'm also hoping to launch a Festive Novella in the Twisted Trails Series early December. This one was a bit of a surprise last minute idea that whipped itself together rather quickly, and now I'm really excited to let it loose in the world!
👻 Sadie and the Secret of the Swamp is out now!👻
✨ Fionna’s website: www.fionnacosgrovewriter.com
✨ Follow Fionna: @are_you_afraid_of_the_books
