C. J. Cooke: On the Stories That a Place Can Hold
C. J. Cooke is an award-winning poet and novelist published in twenty-three languages. She teaches creative writing at the University of Glasgow, where she also researches the impact of motherhood on women’s writing and creative writing interventions for mental health. Follow her on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
C. J. Cooke
Photo © C. J. Cooke
In this post, C. J. discusses the process of writing her new horror novel, A Haunting in the Arctic, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: C. J. Cooke
Literary agent: Deborah Schneider
Book title: A Haunting in the Arctic
Publisher: Berkley
Release date: February 27, 2024
Genre/category: Horror
Previous titles: The Lighthouse Witches; The Nesting
Elevator pitch: A gothic thriller about a woman captured on a whaling ship in 1901, and a group of explorers who set out to explore the wreck of the ship in 2023, which is said to be haunted …
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What prompted you to write this book?
I was interested in writing about abandoned and derelict structures as a site for the gothic. I love the kind of stories that such places hold, layers of life existing there and traces of the various visitors they get. So, I decided to write about a shipwreck that some explorers visit, and from there I decided to write about the ship when it was at sea. I knew it would be set in the Arctic, which has been a favorite setting of mine since writing and researching The Nesting in 2018-19. It’s a fascinating, wild, and beautiful place, but also the site of climate change.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took about a year to write, and the idea did develop during that time—I had originally thought about setting it in an old derelict French mansion, but then a shipwreck came to mind and that setting won! I love writing about the sea, and thoroughly enjoyed the folklore that I researched.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I learned a lot about oceanic folklore and the ways it tends to codify sexual transgression and desire—the ocean is seen to serve as a liminal space in such folklore, wherein societal norms are subverted. A Haunting in the Arctic is a ghost story, but it departs from the Scottish folktale of the selkie wife, which is very similar to The Little Mermaid. A selkie is a seal person, or a creature that can shed its seal skin on land and become human, and in the folktale, a female selkie comes on land and has her sealskin stolen by a fisherman. He forces her to marry him and have his children. Years later, one of her kids finds her sealskin hidden in the house, and returns it to her, so she can go back to the ocean.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I was so excited to write this one but still found it super hard! I think this was mostly to do with the research I needed to do for it. And I had major burnout—I work full-time as well as writing. I’ve taken some time off the day job this year to recuperate!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers find the way I’ve approached the idea of haunting here satisfying. It’s a dark story, but there are elements of light, too.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
That moment where you feel your book is the worst thing a human being has ever written? It’s a completely normal part of the process. Keep going.
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