CAITLIN MARCEAU is an author and professional editor living and working in Montreal. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and is a member of the Horror Writers Association. If she’s not covered in ink or wading through stacks of paper, you can find her ranting about issues in pop culture or nerding out over a good book.
Caitlin has published two short story collections with Ghost Orchid Press: PALIMPSEST (2022) and A BLACKNESS ABSOLUTE (2023).
An Interview with Caitlin Marceau
ANTONIA RACHEL WARD: Let’s start with an introduction: can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what inspired you to start writing?
CAITLIN: So I’m a queer Canadian author and I’ve been writing since before I can even remember. I’ve always loved a good story and that’s definitely thanks to my grandpa, who used to come up with stories for me when I was a kid. He was actually the one who got me into writing and who Palimpsest is dedicated to.
ANTONIA: Tell us a bit about your short story collection, Palimpsest. How did it come about?
CAITLIN: Palimpsest is a collection of (mostly) previously published stories that span across my career in horror fiction. I had just finished writing a collection called A Blackness Absolute (which is out next year) and it just felt like the right time to comb through my previously published work and see what was, and wasn’t, still out there. I realized that a lot of my favourite pieces were either out of print or available exclusively in audio and I really wanted to bring them together under one title. Which is actually how the name for the collection—Palimpsest—came about.
ANTONIA: Do you have a personal favourite story in Palimpsest, and what does it mean to you?
CAITLIN: Oh man, there are a few that really mean a lot to me. I think, if I really had to choose, it would be “Stuck”. I wrote the story when I was attending university after my professor told us that we couldn’t start a story with our protagonist waking up because it would be boring and predictable. I took him up on the challenge and I like to think that I proved him wrong.
ANTONIA: What makes a great short story? Is there a process you use when crafting one?
CAITLIN: I think the key to a good story is realistic characters. It doesn’t matter how wild or outlandish your story is if you have characters that are rooted in reality and who obey the rules of that reality. When it comes to my own process in crafting a short story, I wish I had a clever routine or easy to follow formula, but it’s pretty straightforward for me. I’ll basically look at something or a situation and ask myself, “how could this situation play out to the worst possible extreme?” From there, I write a pretty detailed outline and then hammer the story out.
ANTONIA: Horror is having a bit of a renaissance right now. Who are your favourite authors working in the genre at the moment?
CAITLIN: Indie horror, in particular, is absolutely killing it right now and there are almost too many great voices to list. Some of the ones at the top of my current reading list are April Yates, Hailey Piper, Lindz McLeod, and Lor Gislason.
ANTONIA: Finally, what have you been working on since Palimpsest? Any upcoming publications you’d like to tell us about?
CAITLIN: It’s honestly been a really crazy year in terms of my writing, so there are plenty of fun projects coming out from me this year! If you’re a fan of unsettling stories about author envy, then definitely check out my novelette, Magnum Opus, hitting shelves on August 30th from Timber Ghost Press. And if you’re looking for something longer, my debut novella, This Is Where We Talk Things Out, comes out September 22nd through DarkLit Press.
Find Caitlin on Twitter @CaitlinMarceau, Facebook @CaitlinMarceau, Instagram @CaitlinMarceau and on caitlinmarceau.ca.