Sara Pascoe, award winning comedian turned author took the stage with a smile and brightly coloured T-shirt at the Octagon Sheffield to discuss her new book Weirdo. With a real buzz of positivity and a community feel, fans of Sara Pascoe laughed together, cried together and felt understood as one. Interviewed by BBC Radio Sheffield presenter Paulette Edwards, Sara Pascoe took us on a journey of how she became a writer, the process of how Weirdo was created and how she realised the main Character Sophie was a lot like her.
She said “I was plotting this novel whilst I was pregnant with my first and I was asking myself all these questions and I wanted this character to feel deep for a person. I wasn’t trying to write about myself but once the press tour started i realized that there are things that overlap between me and Sophie.”
“I knew the beginning of the book and I rewrote it over and over again, for a while I didn’t know anything else but as I got further along things made more sense but the ending never did.” Her acclaimed debut novel follows the story of Sophie as she navigates each stage of womanhood, suppresses her inner monologue, acts like a normal person and gets the guy she wants. Throughout the novel we see Sophie tackle everyday life struggles that most people in our day and age go through; debt, heartbreak and learning to love ourselves. Throughout the evening, Pascoe repeatedly told the audience she wanted Sophie to be relatable and someone the reader can go on a journey with.
She said “I wanted her to be real, what do real people do and go through that I don’t see in writing? I am from a working class background and I didn’t have money. Whatever I watched or read I felt that I was missing how skint someone can be and with Sophie and her lifestyle throughout the book it is real and this is what happens in the world.”
Studying English for her degree, and comparing English literature to gossip, throughout the evening she had the audience in continuous laughter as she told us about her childhood, if she prefers Taskmaster to 8 out of Ten Cats and her love for philosophy and the world around her. She was engaging, warming and it felt like a FaceTime call with a friend, she captivated her audience and an hour felt like five minutes.
After being interviewed by Paulette, the initiative was handed to the audience, who were eager to have five minutes one-on-one with Pascoe. Questions such as how she makes time for writing, does she read to her children and how many books a month does she read? And met with a large gasp from the audience she revealed the 20 books a month figure. She said “People think they need the perfect process, the perfect day and the perfect set up to start a book. But short windows are what I think works. I don’t know if I have cracked a balance but writing is amazing and I can fit it in anytime with stand up. I often write to and from gigs.
“Take away that perfectionism and everyone can write.” As much as you can see the character Sophie in Pascoe, she offers a new understanding on what it is to be a woman navigating the world around us and Weirdo gives us the reassurance and the realism that we don’t need to have it all figured out.
Rating: ★★★★★
Weirdo was published in September 2023. Other Off the Shelf Festival events can be found here
