ALUMNI STORIES: 'OXFORD SOWED THE SEEDS FOR MY WRITING JOURNEY'

00:05 Hi my name is Rosie Talbot, my pronouns are she and her and I am an author a book tok-er and a book seller.

00:15 Can you tell us about your second novel, Twelve Bones?

00:18 My next book is '12 Bones', it's coming out on the 12th of October, 12 Bones and 12th of October and it's in fact a sequel to my debut novel '16 Souls' which is all about a teenage medium called Charlie who can see the dead and when the ghosts of York are threatened he teams up with the new seer in town called Sam to save them from a fake western from death, so in 12 Bones we join Charlie and Sam on a brand new adventure in the haunted city of York.

00:50 Who or what are the sources of inspiration that have driven you to create your stories?

00:53 I think inspiration for my work comes from all kinds of places honestly it could be an overhead conversation on the bus it could be work of art in a museum I see or a song I hear but I think particularly for this geology 16 Souls and 12 Bones what really inspired me was the question of what if what if somebody is made extraordinary not by some innate magical abilities or because they're the chosen one or a hero for some reason but simply because they're extraordinary by the people around them who they can interact with with other people can't and that's where the ghost story kind of came from.

1:32 You are a book writer, book seller and book tok-er. Which came first and has one career helped the others?

1:33 Being a book tok-er, an author and also a book seller simultaneously kind of happened simultaneously as well strangely enough so I was working for the National Trust in museums and galleries and I decided I wanted to take my writing to the next level with an aim to publish and when I made that decision it happened to co side with a necessary move so I took a step back from museums and galleries and decided to get a part-time job working for Waterstones because I thought that that would help inform me on the market and what was successful and what was selling which it did and it definitely helped me pick up some really interesting books and then sort of inform my writing and the area of writing I wanted to go into and while all of that was going on I joined social media partly because honestly writing is a very lonely pastime doing it alone is hard and there's an incredible community out there of authors who will support you so I joined and I found readers and I built up my social media platform while I was doing the other things with the hope that one day when I had a book to put out into the world I will have amassed a gathering of wonderful people who might be interested in reading it.

2:40 Your TikTok channel (@merrowchild) has a very engaged following. Do you have any tips for authors looking to build an online presence?

2:41 If you're an author and you're looking to build an online presence I would say there's some key pieces of advice and the first one is deciding whether or not you want to appeal to other authors or whether you want to appeal to readers or whether you want to appeal to both because you can make a very successful account on both different directions I personally decided that I was going to inter connected readers partly because when I started out and I didn't have a book to sell I thought it was best to read other people's books and review them and chat about them and so I was growing a community of readers who then might be interested in my book that other people have been very successful by giving writing tips or asking questions for other writers and having responses and creating a community engaged around the more authorial side of things they both work they're just slightly different options so really the first thing is to pick which one or other options might be best for you and then pursue that but then my second piece of advice would be do not be afraid to throw things out there and just see what sticks and see what works the algorithm on all social media is a bit of a mysterious beastie don't be too disheartened if things don't go the way you expect just keep putting out content I would say post consistently as consistently as you can preferably every day it is a bit of a time drain but once you get used it you can f quite quickly and the second thing would be focus on growing community first what over numbers because ultimately you're going to have a much better experience and you will genuinely make friends for life as well.

4:18 What advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue a career in writing?

4:20 If you want to pursue a career in writing read, read everything set a time aside in your day half an hour minimum to read every day because you cannot write if you don't have the toolkit and words are your toolkit it's amazing how many people I meet who are writing or trying to write and they say they're struggling or they claim they're writing but they when I say what are you reading they're like oh I don't read how are you supposed to write if you don't read honestly get to know the area that you're writing in read everything that you can read outside your just keep reading when I'm writing when I sit down to do a session I will pick maybe five books off my shelf at random and I will read a few pages of each just to get the words moving it really works for me and by selecting lots of different books it means that no one authorial style is going to be too present in my mind and overtake my own voice and that really really helps aside from that don't think you have to write alone there is an amazing or community out there everybody is so helpful we know how hard it is we've been through all the steps and we want to help you get through all those gates and rise to the top and do incredibly well so reach out for help authors are generally really friendly.

5:32 Aside from books, you are known for wearing period-style skirts with very useful large pockets. Is there a story behind your style?

5:36 So I I am known for my pockets in a very strange way I've I've definitely been at train stations and had people come up to me say you that pocket lady and I'm like well yes I am and I the pockets came from partly a love of historical clothing I've always enjoyed fabrics and clothing and I've always been drawn to the very feminine very ridiculously impractical styles but I never had the confidence to actually wear it is everyday clothing and then I lost a book on a train and it annoyed me so much I thought if I had pockets if only I had 18th century pockets where I could fit everything in I probably wouldn't have left this book behind and I just let go of the self-consciousness of wearing something a bit different from everybody else and I started making my own skirts and now my own dresses is actually one of them up there and yes I dress like a Victorian essentially every day some I pair it with a modern tee but I have that's become my uniform and I've it's completely transformed my life I have the most wonderful interactions with people every day who are just curious and I get to talk to really interesting people.

6:46 What does Oxford mean to you?

6:50 For me Oxford is kind of a home away from home because I haven't lived there for many years but some of my fondest memories of my life are there and going back feels like almost going back to my parents house it's a place I'm amazingly familiar with that somebody, somebody might have moved a jug you know maybe maybe a new building's been done or something you know something's changed and it's always exciting to see what's going on the city is so dynamic there's always something or many things going on there's always something new to see on YouTube screens and if I had the chance to move back I definitely would.

7:24 How has your time at Oxford inspired your career?

7:29 I don't think I would be an author if it wasn't for my time at Oxford and in particular the degree that I chose so I did history of Art and history of art is just stories every single object every single artwork every single thing that I was reading about and investigating and and learning about it's a thousand different potential stories a thousand different potential novels and main characters just so rich as a subject and also I think being at Harris Manchester College as well just it's such a wonderful community and it's so supportive that I actually was able to find some time to explore with some other projects and that sewed the seeds for my writing journey.

8:12 Favourite spot in Oxford?

8:14 I love for Port Meadow. So I lived in Jericho for three years when I was a student and right next to Port Meadow and it took about three minutes to go from my front door onto the meadows and I used to go for walks really really early in the morning when the light was sort of thin but just brightening at the edges and the Mist would be of covering the grass and it's just so beautiful so if you can get out to that part of town it's it's like suddenly you're in the city and then two seconds later you're in the middle of the countryside but you can see all the beautiful sky line in the spires of Oxford. It's such a calming place I think particularly when you're a stressed student just being able to go out there and take a walk and take a breath it it's yeah it's a wonderful magical place in the city.

9:00 Describe Oxford In one word

9:04 Incomparable