Today we talk about Welcome to the Bells, a book by Kit Dando published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author, Kit Dando, to get to know her better, what was the moment that brought her to the writing of Welcome to the Bells, as well as how she felt when she published her book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What is the moment that brought you to the writing of your book?
The moment that fully sparked this idea, I remember standing behind the bar in The Bells when I was working there between terms at university, and the other bartender had just had a ridiculous interaction with a customer and she made a joke about how it would make a great TV show… and that was the moment I knew there was some real material to work with. At first it started almost like a journal of human stupidity. I even kept some receipts and tickets that had insane modifications on them, needing evidence that some of these things actually happened and it wasn’t a fever dream. After a while I had so much material that I started creating a narrative around it. I was doing a film degree at the time and so I started writing it as a screenplay, I thought I could maybe make it as a side project at university to build my portfolio, or just practise with writing in that style, but I’ve always been bad at writing screenplays, and I decided I would write it as a book instead. So here we are six years later.
- What is the message you want to communicate to your readers?
I feel that each character conveys a different message that I wanted to put across. When I started writing this story I was in university, and I worked and developed the story through finishing university, moving to London, working in new venues, trying to figure out what I wanted to do and who I was. I feel like each character represents a different stage in young people’s lives which is why I think they are very relatable. They all have their own plot and narrative within the wider story but they all have their moments in which their personal journey is shown. Within Ali’s story I wanted to show that really no one knows what they are doing and it’s ok to be lost. Josh’s focus is all about making those first steps into being an adult, he’s not just finding his place in the team, he’s finding his place in a wider world outside of education. With Abbie and Danny well… they are there and taking nothing seriously. I know none of it is really hard hitting but it’s all a part of human experience and creating a community in which everyone has some form of immediate connection. I hope more than anything people see themselves in these characters and their stories, even those who have never worked in a customer facing role, and if you can’t relate with anyone then maybe you’re the customer who doesn’t accept we don’t have any avocado in the building.
- I have read that you also work in theatre and photography. How do you combine them with Writing?
It’s not so much combined but alongside each other. I suppose the biggest crossover between both my world as a writer and my jobs is the people I meet. I love getting to know people, I love understanding people’s feelings and how they got to where they are. Especially in the creative industries everyone has had a different path in and hundreds of hilarious stories. That and people in theatre are always ready for a post show pub trip.
- How did it feel to see your book published?
“Bucket list shit” I think were my exact words when I first held it. To see it published was such a surreal moment, I think up to that point it hadn’t sunken in and hadn’t felt like it was happening. But holding it finally made it all feel real. There was the odd feeling of things shifting, finally realising that a massive goal was being completed.
- Are you working on a new writing project you can tell us about?
I do have a few writing projects on the go, mainly the subsequent volumes of Welcome to the Bells. The story continues beyond Volume 6, I have plotted out where I want these characters and the pub to go, and I hope if people enjoy 1-6, then I can someday share 7-12 and even beyond that. Although Welcome to the Bells is my main focus, I do have some other projects which are actually different genres. I’ve been working on a dystopian fiction story for just over a decade. The story and the characters have changed so many times if anyone was to ever read the initial story and then what it is now apart from character names everything is different, but that’s normally how writing goes.
Europe Books thanks the author, Kit Dando, once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside her on the editorial path that led to the publication of her book Welcome to the Bells. We wish her the best of luck for her future works.
To you, my readers, I hope this book will entertain you and allow you to recognize yourself in the stories of the characters and their stories her told, although different from each other, and that these will be food for thought to create a new narrative for your personal life experience.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!