Emma Cowing
The Show Woman
Emma is newly represented by Amanda Harris at YMU Literary
Emma grew up on the Scottish Clyde coast and now lives in Glasgow with her husband and their enormously fluffy Maine Coon cat. She has been a journalist for 26 years, working mostly as a features writer and editor, and holds an Ochberg Fellowship in Journalism and Trauma at Columbia Journalism School, New York. She is a former Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards, and two time Interviewer of the Year. The Show Woman is her first novel.
What made you enter the Cheshire Novel Prize?
I have been trying to write a novel since I was a teenager, and have many aborted attempts to show for it languishing on old laptops. But when I started working on The Show Woman I knew I had found something special, and made a promise to myself that I’d finish it, no matter what.
Earlier this year I started writing seriously and confided in an author friend. She recommended I try a writing competition for unpublished novelists, and when I saw that the Cheshire Novel Prize offered feedback for every entry, and that the top 100 were entered into an agent showcase, it seemed like a fantastic opportunity.
What did it feel like when you were LL and SL?
I was sitting in my office when the LL video went up on Twitter, watching the titles slide past and thinking ‘there’s no chance’. When The Show Woman appeared I squealed quietly, rang my husband and squealed more loudly. I had no expectations at all, so I was blown away to be longlisted. Seeing the title of my novel out there in the world for the first time was a special moment.
With the shortlist, I was staying at my in-laws in Yorkshire, and had popped out to do some shopping. After 20 minutes noodling around the supermarket I got back to my car to find four missed calls and a voicemail from Sara. When she gave me the news I burst into tears. The quality of the longlisted titles was incredibly high, so I really didn’t think I’d make the shortlist. After so long writing away on my own, having my work validated in this way, by these incredible judges, has been a huge confidence boost.
What was the reaction like from those around you? Family? Friends?
My Mum has been the biggest supporter of The Show Woman from the start, and for a long time not just my first, but my only reader. Because I have taken inspiration from her own family history, she has been fascinated to see how I’ve woven stories around some of the names she grew up hearing.
When she read the first 10,000 words she told me: ‘I think something will happen for you, and sooner than you think’. I was sceptical, but a month later I was longlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize. Always listen to your mother!
My husband has been brilliant. He is an academic who already has a book to his name, so he understands exactly what I’m going through, and the challenges of the process. He also keeps me accountable, asking how many words I’ve written each day and giving me the side-eye if I claim writers block. He’s thrilled that the hard work has paid off.
How did you come up with the idea for your book?
In November 2021 I started researching my Mum’s side of the family. I knew my great grandparents had run a travelling theatre around the turn of the last century and that one of my great aunts had been a trapeze artist, and wanted to find out more. As I started digging through registration and census records I kept seeing two of my great aunts described as ‘showwomen’. I soon discovered that, in contrast to the expectations on many women in society at the time, show women exerted a lot more control over their lives.
They ran their own shows, handled money and took over as head of the household if their husbands or fathers died, keeping their shows, quite literally, on the road. It fascinated me.
An idea began to percolate about a women’s circus that travelled around Scotland during the Edwardian era, with characters very loosely based on my two great aunts, and it all went from there.
How long did it take you to write it?
About 18 extremely uneven months. I wrote the first half of chapter one back in November 2021, then fiddled around for a long time with ideas and plotlines. I got going more in 2022, but still only had around 10,000 complete words by Christmas. The bulk of the novel was written this year. I’d done so much research, figured out the story and walked around with these characters in my head for so long, that when I really applied myself and stopped procrastinating, it all came pouring out.
What’s it about?
In a circus tent in September 1910, a beautiful young trapeze artist falls from the bar. Six months earlier Lena, an ambitious young show woman, creates a women’s circus and travels the funfairs of Edwardian Scotland in search of her missing mother. But danger lurks in every showground and as the circus reaches dizzying new heights, will she pay too high a price for the truth?
It’s a novel about grief, love, motherhood and female friendship, with a dash of mystery and intrigue, all set in the world of Scotland’s pre-war fairgrounds.
What’s your writing routine?
I work full time so it’s been evenings and weekends for me. I tried early mornings but I need my sleep! So generally I get home from work around 7pm, spend 30 minutes on the exercise bike to clear my head and ‘separate church and state’, make myself something to eat and then sit down and write until about 11pm. If I’m lucky I’ll dream about my characters, and wake up with new ideas the next morning.
I also keep various files open on my notes app on my phone for ideas or phrases that float into my head, often in the most inconvenient of places, so I can refer back to them later.
What’s next for you?
I’d love to get an agent, and start down the road towards publication. I also have a fairly solid idea for my next book, and have started jotting down notes. After so many years of procrastination and failed attempts, knowing now that I can actually complete a novel, I just want to keep writing.
Have you done any writing courses?
I haven’t, mainly due to time constraints, but I know they can be extremely beneficial for new writers. As a feature writer on a newspaper I write almost every day, and that has proved helpful in terms of learning how to tell a story, trimming the fat when it comes to language, and working to deadlines. Now I’ve got my novel to completion I am considering a course in editing my manuscript.
What are your two favourite books and why?
I do love a wide-ranging family saga. I read 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez when I was at university and it left a huge impression on me; the scope of it, the seamless magical realism and the deeply moving personal stories at the heart of it.
And I often return to Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Cazalet Chronicles (strictly speaking five books!). People say they’re a ‘comfort read’ and they are, but there are also some dark stories in there that get to the core of what it is to be human, and flawed. I think she’s a wonderfully spare, elegant writer.
What advice do you have for any aspiring writers?
You can’t edit a blank page. You have to sit down and do the graft. Don’t worry about constructing the perfect sentence every time, you can deal with that in the edit. Just keep going, and get that first draft bashed out. The day you realise you’ve written a whole novel, and can edit it to your heart’s content, is a pivotal moment for any aspiring writer.