Shannon Morgan is the author of the new novel A Penance for Crows. Her other books include Grimdark.
Q: What inspired you to write A Penance for Crows, and how did you create your character Grizela?
A: I store up weird little experiences and snippets of history that fascinate me, but I don’t have a story to go with said weird snippets.
One of these was the diabolical signatures. I read about them years ago while doing research for another book, then put it to the back of my mind.
It wasn’t until I was driving around the tip of the Beara Peninsula in Ireland, and there, looking over Dursey Island (one of the most wonderfully, desolate places that fed my little gothic heart), I was seeing another island, that existed only in my head, and the diabolical signatures just slotted into place.
The crows, however, were what really gave me my story, and all due another weird experience.
While living in Wiltshire, we lived on a farm with a small wood to one side and a field out front. Hundreds of crows lived in the wood, and every evening they would fly over the field like a murmuration of starlings. However, one night they all landed in the field at once, facing away from me.
I’m not sure what happened, what they heard, but they suddenly all turned to face me and stare for what felt like an age. Then, with a hive mind, they took to the air. I must admit I was freaked out, but that little experience never left me and it’s why the crows on Beanna Dubh behave the way they do.
Grizela was one of those characters that stepped into the story fully formed – very unusual for me. I had this idea of a wild, grey-haired woman scurrying across the island in her hobnailed boots, and she pretty much wrote herself.
Q: The novel is set on a fictional island near Ireland’s Beara Peninsula--how important is setting to you in your writing?
A: Setting is as important – particularly in gothic fiction – as character and plot. In many ways the setting is a character in its own right, and this is something I try to portray in my gothic novels.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: Yes, and that’s rare for me. I really struggle with endings, so it was rather a relief that I knew how Penance would end. I actually had most of the ending written before I’d completed the first three chapters – again, rare for me – and it didn’t change at all apart from light editing.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I try to tie my titles into the story if I can, so I will often start with a working title until something springs out of my while writing the first draft.
A Penance for Crows came about as a title while I was working out the history/folklore of the island. The crows are seen as penitents in the island’s folklore, which lent itself to the title.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Something totally different – a whodunnit.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Hah! A loaded question with way too many possible answers.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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