Rachel Greenlaw: Write What Sets Your Soul on Fire

Rachel Greenlaw is the author of One Christmas Morning. She grew up in North Cornwall, surrounded by wild moorland. She studied English with creative writing at Falmouth University before moving to an island in the middle of the Atlantic, where she lives with her husband and two children.

In this interview, Rachel discusses discusses how the setting came to life the same as a character, how her most recent novel started as a one-sentence pitch, and more.

Name: Rachel Greenlaw
Literary agent: Maddalena Cavaciuti
Book title: The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release date: October 22, 2024
Genre/category: Women’s Fiction
Elevator pitch: Carrie Morgan returns to her hometown of Woodsmoke after ten years away and falls in love with a man who may not be real, who her witchy family warn her may disappear as the frost thaws in springtime, leaving her broken hearted.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I wanted to write a character-led story that explored what home truly means, whether it’s a person or a place, or both, and the made-up town of Woodsmoke, with the mountains looming up around emerged almost fully formed, like a character itself in my mind as I was discovering the characters and their stories. I also wanted to play with the idea of an elusive love interest, a character who might not be real, and let the reader decide for themselves in the end whether he is real, or not.

How long did it take you to go from idea to publication?

It began with a one-sentence pitch back in 2021, then it changed as I wrote it, and as I discovered the characters’ secrets. I first got the image of Carrie after a writing retreat in the snowy mountains of Colorado back in 2020, before the world locked down. But it took a false start, then multiple rewrites to find the true heart of the narrative, and tell the story in the most coherent way. 

It’s multi-POV, non-linear, and the backstory of Woodsmoke informs the present to such an extent, that the reader really needed a window into the past, in order to ground themselves in the present day of Woodsmoke.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

The biggest surprise was Waterstones creating a special edition of the book, with gorgeous sprayed edges. I got to go to the printers near London and sign them all, including some standard editions for indie bookshops around the UK, and it was such a treat, a true celebration of the book and my team’s tireless work. 

The second was finding it printed in a bestseller list, and learning it was a Waterstones bestseller in its first week! The chart was printed in the Saturday review in The Times, and that was such a milestone moment.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Not surprises as such, but more that it was a real learning curve. I had never written a story with multiple narrators before, that was also non-linear in form, so it took time in edits to get everything in the right order for the reader. 

Cora remains my favorite character, possibly that I’ve written so far. She’s complex, at once sympathetic, and formidable. She has a wry wit, she’s very fixed in her ideas and ways, and she loves with her whole heart, even if we don’t always agree with her decisions. She is so unapologetically human.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

A sense of peace by the end, and possibly a few lingering questions. I want readers to find a character they relate to, whether it’s Jess in the thick of motherhood, Carrie with her wandering soul, or Cora with her huge heart and fixed ideas.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Write what sets your soul on fire. Write what you’re obsessed with, that you can’t shake. Write for yourself, and pour a little of yourself into the pages.