Authors Answer: Louise Ells
Authors Answer Q&A #560
Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer (started as a blog in 2020, moved onto Substack in 2025), is an attempt to give authors space to wax eloquent about the other influences on their writing. The questions posed here move beyond the formulaic classics like, “What books are on your nightstand?” or “What book inspired you to be a writer?” and even “You’re having a dinner party….which three authors (dead or alive) do you invite?” There are 20 standing questions. Authors pick FIVE that they want to answer.
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to learn more about participating.
Today’s post features Louise Ells.
Louise Ells was born and raised in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, by parents who were both voracious readers. Two of her father’s cousins were writers, so she grew up believing “author” was an entirely reasonable career choice. Ha! After a circuitous path which included jobs as a Cordon Bleu chef and submarine co-pilot amongst others, she earned her PhD in Creative Writing and became a university teacher. Her short story collection, Notes Towards Recovery, was published in 2019 and her novel, Lies I Told My Sister, in 2024, both by Latitude 46 Publishing. She continues to be passionate about teaching, reading, writing, and travelling, and knows how very lucky she is to be able to call herself an author.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/louiseellsauthor/
Blog: https://louiseells.blogspot.com/
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I am a write-in-silence person rather than write-with-music person, or write-in-a-coffee-shop person. Occasionally I’ll play classical music in the background, especially if I’m trying to remember a fleeting moment which I think the music might help me recapture. (There was a busker in a tube station in the late 80’s, whose music was a highlight of my morning commute. It greeted me as I stepped off the train and followed me as I changed levels and lines. And there was a fruit & veg stall owner at Spitalfields who played Vivaldi at high volume and won my custom because of it.)
I’m never sure if country music is described as “three chords and the truth” or “four chords and the truth” (can you tell I don’t play guitar?), but when I’m getting tangled up in plot points and details and worrying that everything I’m writing is garbage, I take a deep breath and try to focus on that idea of simplicity and sincerity.
Is your go to comfort food sweet or savory? Is it something you make yourself? Does food inspire your writing?
Yes! Yes please to comfort food, both savoury and sweet. I earned my Grand Diplôme at the Cordon Bleu in London (in theory this was my gap year between Grade 13 and university . . . in reality it was the first of seven years between Grade 13 and university) and still love to cook, all the more so because I no longer work in kitchens for a living. Depending on the day or my mood, my comfort food might be a bowl of raspberries or a loaf of bread, fresh from the oven, with olive oil and balsamic, or a hunk of cheese, or . . . . In wild blueberry season nothing tastes better than the berries, warmed by the sun, eaten as I pick.
Reading a well-written cookbook is almost as comforting as eating. (I have a self-imposed rule that I can’t own more cookbooks than fit onto a Billy bookshelf, but I also have a number of exceptions to that rule . . . .) I associate food with family gatherings and celebrations, as do many of my characters. I try not to sit them down for a meal too often, but I am aware they eat a lot, so those are often the first scenes to get chopped during revision.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
Always. It is a constant companion (in writing and in life). For the duration of my doctoral degree I was convinced there had been a mistake and at any moment it would be discovered that I had no idea what I was doing. Every time a reader asks a thoughtful question about a piece of my writing, which shows a close reading, I am delighted. (Oh my goodness, someone understood what I was trying to say! Amazing!)
Every semester I give myself a pep talk before the first class I teach to remind myself that I have one golden nugget to offer each student, and all I have to do is get to know the students, and what I might give them. Even so, some days I catch myself standing at the front of the room feeling like a fraud because my classrooms are full of such intelligent, inquisitive young people, whose lived experience is so different from my own.
Vacation druthers… City or Rural destination? Why?
It is too cheaty to say yes please to city and rural? I adore walking around new-to-me cities and discovering their museums, galleries, neighbourhoods, and restaurants. I’m as interested in buildings and bridges which have survived for hundreds or years as modern architectural wonders. But I also love hiking forests and ancient footpaths, and swimming (or “wild swimming” when I’m in the UK - ha ha) rivers and lakes. Sometimes a vacation offers the perfect combination of both big cities and middle-of-nowhere nature; last year I spent a month in New Zealand, which I adored. I have been lucky enough to live in both rural and urban areas, and to travel a lot–all of which informs my fiction.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I am an old school scrapbooker. I love playing with pretty paper and embellishments, and saving memories with photographs and journalling. It’s a different form of story-telling, preserving the seemingly unremarkable moments of my life. I will be forever grateful that I captured everyday memories of my life with my husband, Doug, for our too short marriage, before I started to lose him to early onset dementia. Although our life together may not appear to an outsider to have been extraordinary or exciting, it is the life we had, and the life we loved. I had no idea how precious those scrapbooks would become when I had to hold our shared memories for both of us. I often take one to his long term care home, read the journaling aloud, and describe the photographs to him. It breaks my heart every time, because I desperately miss the man he was, when he was well, but I am so grateful I knew him then.
Endnotes!
This newsletter is a passion project started by me, Elizabeth Rynecki, to try to help shine a light on new-to-me authors. I am also an author (and a documentary filmmaker and podcaster) and if you want to learn more about me, you can visit my website or read my personal newsletter, Ink Trails: A Chronicle in Creativity.
I’ve never made Authors Answer specific social media accounts, but you can find me on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.