Caitlin Breeze
The Fox Hunt
Caitlin is newly represented by Nicole Cunningham at The Book Group
Caitlin lives in London, in a tiny house full of books. After a BA in Classics & Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge – and a Creative MA from Falmouth University in Cornwall, her favourite corner of the world – she currently works as a creative director. The Fox Hunt is her first novel.
What made you enter the Cheshire Novel Prize?
I’d felt rather shivery and wobbly about sharing my book with anyone, as I’d worked on it for a long time without ever showing it to another person. So, I knew a competition would push me out of my comfort zone. And with the Cheshire Novel Prize, the idea that I would actually get specific feedback was so encouraging. Everything has changed for me since entering: the prize has given me a lovely community of writers, and established a confidence I didn’t have before in sharing my work more widely, asking for feedback and working with critique partners.
What did it feel like when you were LL and SL?
Unreal. I think I made an extremely strange sound when the LL was announced. My cat fled from the room like a greased racehorse, so I suspect it was also an extremely loud sound. It took a while to stop dancing, in any case.
When the call came to say I’d been shortlisted, I was so overwhelmed that I flatlined into a deadly sort of calm. I remember talking to Sara on the phone in these sedate fully formed sentences, with no idea how my brain was producing them, because all I was thinking was “AAAAAAAAAAH”.
The most wonderful feeling of all, really, has been knowing my book was in the hands of so many readers. The Cheshire Novel Prize has such an incredible, diverse panel of readers and judges. I couldn’t (can’t!) quite believe I got to share my work with these people, all giving such time and care to it?! It’s incredible.
What was the reaction like from those around you? Family? Friends?
Just the loveliest. It’s been surreal to receive so much support for something I’ve been squirrelled away working on by myself for a long while. Some friends even organised a dinner to celebrate my shortlisting. (!!) My long-time best friends sent so many celebratory messages, my phone nearly buckled under the weight of emojis. I’m still not sure how I got so lucky to have such a supportive network. But I’m hanging on to it!
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
The core of the novel had been in my head for several years. I think I’d read somewhere, or a friend had told me, about a night in Oxford when a group of students held a ‘human fox hunt’. The male students were the hunters, chasing the female students as foxes. The image stuck with me.
I’d really enjoyed my time at university, but I think I’d still always had questions in the back of my mind. As this story took shape, those questions kept weaving themselves into it: about the enduring role of class in the student body, about where the powerful political leaders in the country have come from and how they ended up receiving that power. Those invisible systems channelling power – like magic, I thought. Add in a swirl of paganism, rituals and secret societies, and THE FOX HUNT was there, in front of me!
I’ve also always loved Ovid’s Metamorphoses, an epic that zeroes in on the power transfer inherent in transformation. Woman to tree, man to stag, woman to nightingale: the changing of form as an aftereffect of a clash with power. But I also clung to this idea of transformation as a gateway to freedom. At first, I was vaguely thinking about Viola in Twelfth Night and Rosalind in As You Like It – casting off their so-called ‘true form’ empowers and frees them to take the path to their heart’s desire. ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ by Angela Carter, with its reverse Beauty and the Beast motif, pointed the way a little further.
What would it truly be like to be without a woman’s body? To lose the constraints of a smooth and hairless skin, to forget the meaning of ‘nice’ and ‘well behaved’? Guided by tooth and claw and pelt, would my heroine find strength in savagery, and beauty in the beastly?
How long did it take you to write it?
Several years, with a big break in the middle! I really learned how to write a novel through the practical experience of writing – and rewriting, and rewriting, AND rewriting – this one. Plot arcs, characters, the functional bones of an opening chapter: I’d know something wasn’t working, and have to figure out by feel and by trial what the manuscript needed to get better. It’s felt rather like qualifying as a book mechanic: lots of studying, lots of tinkering and getting to know the right tools. At the very least, I feel like I’m no longer turning up with a fish instead of a wrench when a few story bolts need tightening.
If you are a very patient person, I’d really recommend this process. If you are a sensible person, I think you can skip through stages 6-20 of my journey by workshopping with a group you trust, or taking a writing course. I realise now that a course would probably have covered everything I learned through trial and error, but in a quarter of the time.
But it absolutely has all paid off. Starting my second novel has been such a different experience: I picked up a pen and it was all there, ready to go. The difference in speed and confidence is breathtaking.
What’s it about?
THE FOX HUNT is a grounded fantasy novel about the power of transformation. It follows self-effacing student Emma Curran, adrift in a sea of wealth and tradition at The University. But when Emma’s mortal life is sacrificed to pay for the privilege of England’s most powerful young men, she discovers an ancient magic may be the key to regaining all she holds dear.
What’s your writing routine?
Horrendously, it’s very late nights. I like to think of myself as a morning person, but my writing just works properly between 4pm and 4am. I also like to write in sprints and larger chunks of time, rather than an hour or so a day, which I’m gloomily aware is also probably not best practice when you’re juggling a full-time job. But it works for me so far!
I do have one little writing ritual I stick to. I have a playlist of writing music for THE FOX HUNT. Every single time I sit down to work on the book, I play the first track. I’ve listened to that track countless times. It signals to my brain that it’s time to enter Emma’s world. And almost every time, I can’t wait.
What’s next for you?
I’ve outlined the sequel to THE FOX HUNT, and put it aside for a little while to marinate.
In the meantime, I’m giving myself a nice palate cleanser by starting my second book. It’s a really fun change of pace and tone: an ensemble mystery set at an elite fame academy, titled THE SHADOW CAST – (Think ‘Fame!’ with a murderous gleam in its eye.)
Have you done any writing courses?
None, and it’s a regret! I’m going to rectify that, as I’ve realised they’re a wonderful way to level up your work, expand your writer’s toolkit and find a supportive community.
What are your two favourite books and why?
What a cruel question!
So, my favourite author of all time is Tamora Pierce. Her books raised me, and formed my character more than anything else. They’re YA fantasy with strong female heroines, humour, and heart. Start with ‘The Song of the Lioness’, and proceed. Give a copy to any young reader you know from 10 upwards.
Second book? I love, love, love the gothic. And ruling over all other gothic novels is, of course, ‘Rebecca’. Ugh, it’s so good. I’ve reread it any number of times. When I miss Cornwall. When the first fog creeps across the ground. When I want to self-flagellate over how rough my current draft is compared to Daphne du Maurier’s mastery of everything. (Oddly enough, ‘Rebecca’ was an important touchstone for THE FOX HUNT, although it’s perhaps not visible on the surface.)
What advice do you have for any aspiring writers?
I read somewhere that a novel’s setting and plot don’t necessarily reveal anything about the writer: but the core idea that lies underneath the novel tells you everything important about them. The piece called this lurking core idea: ‘the monster at the bottom of the well’.
Find the monster lurking at the bottom of your well! You may know what your novel is about, the story beats and so on, but do you also know what it’s *about*? (Heavy emphasis)
What’s the deep, sticky thing that’s driving you to write this particular book? Can you interrogate yourself and find out why you were drawn to this story, these characters, at this time? What matters to you about this book, what’s it giving voice to for you?
Once you have that, you have your compass. It’ll guide you when you get stuck on story arcs, and point you back on course when you’ve crashed into a snowdrift and don’t know why. It’ll also help motivate you when writing gets tough, or revisions are painstaking. It’s a shortcut to remembering – that vivid full-body, felt sense kind of remembering – why you’re writing this book, and why it matters more than anything that you keep going with it.