Sylvie Cathrall’s debut novel, A LETTER TO THE LUMINOUS DEEP, is available now from Orbit Books. Sylvie holds a graduate degree in odd Victorian art and has handled more than a few nineteenth-century letters (with great care). She married her former pen pal and lives in the mountains, where she dresses impractically and dreams of the sea.

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Welcome to the Hive, Sylvie. Congratulations on your debut, A Letter to the Luminous Deep. Let’s start by telling us a bit about it. What can our readers expect? 

Thank you so much! I’m thrilled to be here, especially since a virtual interview feels a little bit like exchanging letters.

We hadn’t even considered that! How apt!

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a strange and hopeful story about lonely, like-minded people finding each other…while underwater, for the most part. It’s an epistolary novel made up of letters, journal entries, and occasional book excerpts, all of which document the characters’ friendships, romances, and family ties.

I was immediately captivated by your incredible worldbuilding. What were your inspirations here? What drew you to writing about an almost entirely underwater world defined by three different academic campuses, Boundless, Atoll and Intertidal? 

That’s extremely kind of you to say! The truth is that I built this world rather self-indulgently. I incorporated a bit of everything I wanted from a fantasy novel at the time: an oceanic setting, an intriguing collection of documents to peruse, and lots of awkward, scholarly sorts. 

I was also finishing graduate school when I started writing this book. It was not my happiest era, to say the least. I transformed the negative aspects of my experience into Boundless Campus, and invented the slightly more supportive and accessible Atoll and Intertidal Campuses as counterpoints.

Which campus would you choose to live and study on and why?

I suspect the Atoll Campus would be the perfect academic home for me. It’s overly formal and somewhat rigid, relying a great deal on established routines (which suits me very well). Scholars there look out for one another, but are not expected to be extraordinarily social. I imagine I would fit right in. I should hope so, anyway, since I invented the place!

And can you tell us more about how you created Deep House? Did you do any sketches or research into how a functional underwater house would look? 

I did make some sketches, but you wouldn’t want to see them! Unlike the many artistic characters in my novel, I can’t draw at all. (Raxenne Maniquiz, who illustrated the extraordinary cover, also did E.’s sketches for the book.)

At the very least, I spent ages envisioning what an elegant underwater home might look like. I drew a floorplan of its various rooms and a rudimentary map of the “undergarden.” I focused far too much on tiny details, like the specific wallpaper and stained glass windows that might appear in each bedchamber. I also did enough research to guess what a very anxious person living in an underwater house might worry about. (There’s…quite a lot.) 

[Ed: artistic talent by-the-by, I’d still love to see these details! Content for a future newsletter perhaps?]

Let’s discuss your wonderful cast of characters starting with, E. Cidnosin and Henerey Clel. How did you find developing their relationship? And how important was it to you to represent E’s experiences as someone with OCD and social anxiety? 

Writing E. and Henerey’s correspondence brought me great comfort. I love how quickly they fall for each other and how slowly they go about expressing those feelings. It was very important for me to portray their romance as one based on mutual support and understanding. They don’t have to magically “overcome” their mental conditions or change their unique ways of experiencing the world to be together.

I wrote the first draft around when I was first diagnosed with OCD. Even now, it remains a constant presence in my life. I didn’t intend to put so much of my experiences into E.’s character at first. (Even now, I could write a dissertation on why Henerey is actually the most like me!) I was scared of revealing how challenging it is to live with my specific obsessions and compulsions. As I revised, though, I found I could not fully tell any of my characters’ stories without drawing from my own.

And their siblings Sophy and Vyerin? Was it difficult balancing their grief without the novel becoming too melancholic or dark?

Would you believe that my first draft didn’t even include Sophy and Vyerin’s frame narrative? I added their correspondence later, and I’m so happy I did.

At the beginning of the book, Sophy and Vyerin feel quite isolated by their grief. I worked hard to create space for their mourning within a story that’s ultimately uplifting. I hope the joy of seeing Sophy and Vyerin become friends and open up to each other can balance the emotional intensity of their initial circumstances. (It also helps that they’re both funny, clever people with generally optimistic outlooks. Even if Vyerin would never admit it.) 

What of E and Sophy’s brother, Arvist? He definitely felt like a brother many of us can relate to! 

Oh, Arvist. I’m glad to hear he’s relatable! Wait—maybe I shouldn’t be too glad? Anyway, Arvist is inspired by a number of notable Arvists I’ve met throughout my life (none of whom would ever see themselves in him, fortunately, so I can safely say this in print). To be honest, though, writing scenes with Arvist was more fun than it ought to have been. I truly never knew what he might do next! 

How important was it to you to not only explore romantic love but also sibling relationships and friendships? 

This book features a constellation of characters connected to each other in different ways. Henerey and E. are in love. So are Sophy and Niea. Sophy and E. are sisters, and Henerey and Vyerin are brothers. Vyerin and Sophy are friends. I felt terribly curious about how these different relationships could affect their correspondence. Someone who comes across as chatty and cheerful when writing to their sibling might seem stiff and reserved in letters to someone they admire from afar, for example. I’d say that my interest in exploring love, friendship, and family relations was inspired by the epistolary structure.

An aspect I loved about your book was how the beautifully crafted letters conveyed so much. What drew you to writing this novel in an epistolary style and in the light academia genre?

I’m a lifelong fan of epistolary novels, and I’ve studied lots of historical letters. I love feeling actively involved in a narrative, as though I’m paging through old papers and trying to puzzle out the story for myself. Like Vyerin and Sophy do!

I began drafting this book so long ago that “light academia” wasn’t even a thing yet! During the submission and pre-publication process, my agent and editors helped me understand how this book aligned with certain emerging trends in the fantasy world. I was grateful for their guidance! (And grateful that there was a place out there for a book I wrote for my own enjoyment, essentially.)

Your cover is absolutely stunning, every time I look at it I spot more details! How involved in the process were you? Was there a particular aesthetic you hoped they’d portray?

You’re not the only one! I also keep discovering new things on the cover. I knew from the start that my novel would not be the best match for a minimalist design, and I envisioned something intricately beautiful. I was asked to share a Pinterest board and offer suggestions about which sea creatures to include, but I don’t want to take any of the credit here. The Orbit team, Raxenne Maniquiz, and Charlotte Stroomer created a visual identity for this book that exceeded anything I could have possibly imagined. 

What can you tell us about your sequel to Luminous Deep? What more can we expect to come?

The sequel picks up directly where the first book ends… in two different ways. It features some new weird and watery locations. It’s even more romantic, but the family connections are also more relevant than ever. And you can look forward to a new friendship that forms between a rather unlikely pairing of characters from Book 1.

Are you planning anything fun to celebrate your debut? 

I wish I could say I was going to a tea party in a castle overlooking the sea, or something fittingly magical, but I’m keeping it simple! We’re going to a bookstore to see my novel on the shelves, which will be magical enough in its own way. (And maybe there will still be tea?) 

And just for fun, if you could choose any sea creature, mythological or real, to spend a day underwater with, which would you choose and why? 

There are lots I’d like to observe briefly, but as a companion for a full day? Perhaps some sea nymphs who would be open to helping me improve my lyre technique while we float on a massive seashell together. (I’ve been learning to play the lyre for a few years now and somehow have yet to find myself in any floating-on-massive-seashell situations.)

Finally, what is the one thing you hope readers take away from your writing?

I hope it helps someone—even just one reader—feel a little less lonely.  

Thank you so much for joining us today!

Thank you for having me, and a bonus thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read A Letter to the Luminous Deep!

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is available now, you can order your copy HERE