Dreams, Grief, and Gothic Tales: An Interview with A.G. Slatter

Inside the Gothic Mind of A.G. Slatter: Writing, Grief, and The Cold House

Angela Slatter aka “A. G. Slatter” is an impressive and prolific writer. She has written multiple novels, novella, short stories, and collaborated on a graphic novel with Mike Mignola. Slatter has also won sixteen awards, including the 2022 Shirley Jackson Award for best novella, multiple Aurealis awards, and most recently, the 2024 Ignotus Award Cuento exranjero (Foreign short story) for her tale, “Widows’ Walk”. As well, she has been long and short listed for many other awards. Her most recent book, The Cold House, will be released by Titan Books this October, 2025. Today, we are interviewing her regarding her writing career and her new book.

 

Please introduce yourself. Tell us about your background, how you came to writing. You have a PhD in Creative Writing. Please tell our readers a bit about that experience. Did you always want to be a professional writer?

My name is Angela Slatter, writing gothic fiction as A.G. Slatter. I’ve always been a huge reader and scribbled most of my life but didn’t make the decision to try and write professionally until I was 37. So, I moved cities, started studying the how-to of writing and just kept going. For a long while I still had part- and full-time work to pay the bills but in the last few years I’ve been able to make my living mostly from writing, with some supplementary income from editing, mentoring and occasional teaching.

I always wanted to be a writer but didn’t know how to be one – no one told me all you needed was an overactive imagination, a complete disregard for reality and a good grip on the language you’re choosing to write in! Also, pens and a lot of notebooks. Eventually my disregard for reality overcame all of the “should” (“you should do this”, “you should do that”, “you should be a responsible adult”) and I knew I had to give writing a go before I died! 21 years later…

 

What is your overall writing process like? How often do you write? What is your favourite (and least favourite) aspect of writing?

 

I try to keep it not too chaotic. Some days I write a lot, some days I write nothing and just do admin or planning for new deals or researching or reading other books to do blurbs, freelance editing or writing read & reports for clients, etc. Some days I lie on the bed and doomscroll, some days I binge watch a new series or an old favourite that I really love for the craft of it (I will always rewatch Taboo or Kingdom for their exquisite structure, foreshadowing and reveals).

 

I have a lot of deadlines so I’m always trying to be mindful of those and prioritising what’s the most critical one. At the moment, I’m 9 weeks into a 3-month writing residency in Tasmania, and I’ve had nothing else to do but write (and eat, with occasional periods of sleep) and I have written a lot because there are none of the usual mundane interruptions. Can recommend if you can structure your life to do such a thing, but 3 months is a very long time to uproot your life – the benefits have been huge for me, and I’m very fortunate I could take advantage of the opportunity.

 

Favourite aspect: writing! Making stuff up. Least favourite: getting to the point where you need to start the pitch process yet again (and write a synopsis).

 

Where did the inspiration for your upcoming release, The Cold House, come from?

 

I literally woke up from a nightmare of a woman waking up after sleepwalking and finding herself in a very dangerous position. I wrote that scene in the middle of the night so I could capture the feeling. I was in the middle of writing another novel at the time so I couldn’t really divert attention from that but I knew I had to get the scene on the page so when I was able to come back to the story I’d get the same sensation as the dream had given me – if I could catch that then I felt confident I could write the story that was bubbling there in that dream. I’d also posted a snippet of that scene to Facebook and Cath, my editor at Titan, messaged to say that she would be very interested in that story (after I’d finished the novel I was already writing for her).

 

When I was able to get back to the story, the title was one I’d had sitting in the back of my mind for a while, and I realised that it connected with the story. Then it all kind of came together…

 

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring? Any that were more difficult for you?

 

I really like the characters of the Vicar and her wife, who’s an academic specialising in folklore. I like the dynamic between them and their relationship. And I also really loved writing Albert Lowen the solicitor from Higgins & Hyde who sort of appeared to me like a bit of a louche rockstar in a very well-tailored suit but carrying a briefcase (which was very much not rockstarish). Again, I like the dynamic between him and Everly, and would like to write about them again.

 

The stuff that’s always difficult is the grief and betrayal stuff – you’ve got to dig into your own experiences of hurt to make the ones on the page feel real and convincing for the reader. So even though you might not have the same experiences as your protagonist, you still have to excavate old hurts – so it’s a bit like self-harm! But you’re able to use it in a helpful way, I also think it can help give you some perspective and control on those old hurts. Everything is fodder for writers. However, my first drafts will often have square brackets and a note that says [WRITE EMOTIONS HERE IN NEXT DRAFT] because on the first draft I can’t quite deal with having an emotion. I schedule it for days when I’m feeling strong. 😊

 

What writers and/or books have influenced your work the most? Who are your favourite authors? 

 

This question becomes harder to answer the older you get because you’ve read sooooo much over the years. Tanith Lee and Angela Carter are always my go-tos, and I’ll often re-read their work because I know they’ve done something that I really admire and want to riff on in my own work. Kelly Link is always amazing, as is Shirley Jackson and Flannery O’Connor. I always read a lot of Wilbur Smith as a teen, some Stephen King (obviously).

 

What are some books/authors you’ve read lately that you’d like to recommend?

 

Always Alix Harrow, Kathleen Jennings, Kaaron Warren, J.S. Breukelaar, Sarah Pinborough, Ava Morgyn, GennaRose Nethercott, and Lee Murray. On the new authors front (new to me or debuts), Carson Faust, Kay Chronister, Dawn Kurtagich, Amy Jane Stewart… there are so many! Apologies to anyone I missed! ☹

 

What are you working on now? What is next for you? Where can our readers find you?

 

I am working madly on three things: a new novel set in the Sourdough world, Our Lady of Battles; a novella for the residency, A Book for the End of the World; and another novella, Sleeping Under Ivy. There are also some short stories I’m pecking away at, I’m putting the finishing touches on another writer chapbook from Brain Jar Press and another book which is my PhD exegesis collected with some other non-fiction writing, and a grab-bag of other assorted “stuff”.

 

I can be found mostly at Instagram @angelaslatter or my website www.angelaslatter.com.