I was educated in Welsh from about the age of four, and definitely think this has had a major impact on my writing. I studied Welsh Literature a lot at school and while at the time I hated having to memorise long poems, now I’m glad I had the experience of growing up bilingual.
Sophie Mackintosh by Sophie Davidson
When I started writing, I was all about the poetry. Now I rarely write poetry, but I still think there is a poetic element to my writing. I love very precise images, that moment where you hit upon just the right way of describing things, or seeing them in a new light.
I think often people must read my short fiction and my novel and think I’m this strange, morbid person. I can be a bit intense, but I’m also this quite happy-go-lucky, enthusiastic Welsh girl who likes meeting new people and going for a pint. I feel very normal, and actually quite boring.
My experience of my book being released was a strange one, as my boyfriend was diagnosed with cancer just a few days before. I’m grateful that writing is a flexible career, as being able to look after him is a big priority for me. It has definitely changed how I look at the world already and made me reassess things.
I’m very into astrology - I do genuinely believe there is something to it, read my horoscope religiously, and learn about it whenever I can. There are too many coincidences for me to dismiss it, and my best friend is also very into it - she gave me a detailed reading of my star chart a few months ago, and it was scarily accurate.
My family is very female-focussed. On my mum’s side we’re a big Welsh family from the valleys, my grandma at the head and lots of female cousins. I love them all very much and we can talk about anything. When my book came out I went to my grandma’s house and they all surprised me by dropping around with a cake and a bottle of prosecco - it was a really lovely moment.
The first “book” I ever wrote was on my granddad’s old computer, and it was about two rabbits called Flopsy and Fluffytail. I remember being so excited at the idea that I could write hundreds of pages on the machine - I wasn’t held back by the limitations of paper. Obviously though I was about six years old, so I wrote about 20 words.
I tried to write another “book” when I was seventeen, but it was truly awful. I think I wrote about 5000 words, but I was trying so hard to be ‘gritty’ and it was very pretentious. After that, I didn’t try writing anything long for several years, but I still think the experience taught me something.
At the moment I’m obsessed with Love Island - I find reality television really fascinating, and actually believe that it’s a good representation of young men supporting each other emotionally, forming bonds, and being vulnerable, not the mess of toxic masculinity that many people assume it to be. We don’t see enough of this on television.
Growing up, music was really important to me, and I used to perform regularly and even released an EP. Now I don’t perform but it still holds a massive place in my life. My favourite place in the world is being in a dark Berlin club at about five am, when the world feels like a whole other place. There’s a real uncanniness to it. I always make a playlist for any novel or short story that I write, and listen obsessively until I’m sick of the songs.
