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From Pen to Print: Tracy Fahey on Down We Go Together
The ever-prolific Tracy Fahey is readying her second of three releases this year. Following on from Queens of the Crone Age, the acclaimed Irish author claims the 42nd entry in the Black Shuck’s Shadows series — and it’s a little different from her usual fare. She tells us more about her first collection of crime and noir stories.
Name: Tracy Fahey (she/her)
Based in: Sixmilebridge in the south-west of Ireland
What genres/subgenres are you drawn to?
Gothic, folklore. I’m drawn to the reflective melancholy of the Gothic, and the storytelling, ancestral lore and community cohesion behind folklore. In both genres, I’m constantly attracted to the idea of the persistence of the past in the present. My current book, Queens of the Crone Age, is about women’s folklore, healing and hope, and my next book, Women Changing, mingles Greek mythology with Gothic bodies of menopausal transformation.
Is writing your full-time focus, or do you have a day job as well? What do you do?
I’m very lucky to combine business with pleasure in my career. As well as writing I lecture in Critical and Contextual Studies in one of Ireland’s oldest art schools, Limerick School of Art and Design. I teach modules on creative writing, the Gothic and folk horror, and supervise theoretical and practice-based MA and PhD students. My creative practice informs my teaching — and vice versa. It’s a real joy to spend the day in conversation with visual creators.
The Book: From Pen to Print
What was the genesis of this book? Where did you get the idea from?
Gothic crime has always exerted a fascination, from Poe’s ‘Murders In The Rue Morgue’ onwards (my first experience of dark detective fiction). I’ve always loved moody, psychological detective fiction and police procedurals, both in terms of fiction and TV. I’m especially interested in non-traditional representations of wrongdoing — ones that reflect on the psychological impact of crime on all involved. That’s what the phrase Down We Go Together alludes to: no one escapes untouched from the experience.
I’m a huge fan of Nordic noir; the two Swedish Wallander series (1994–2007 starring Rolf Lassgård) and (2005–2013 starring Krister Henriksson) are wonderful and deeply felt. Danish series Forbrydelsen (The Killing) was a lingering exploration of loss, and Bron/Broen is a sensitive and moving story of the impact of crime. I mingled that with my deep interest in Irish folklore, in that I was paying tribute to Tana French — her first book, In The Woods, is a wonderful mix of folk eerie, memory loss and a devasting police procedural.
Paul Finch said this book was ‘’savage jolts of Celtic Noir, with a dark, fantastical spin’ — I’m very pleased with that description from someone of the award-winning stature in crime writing as Paul.
How many drafts did you go through before you felt it was ready to query? How long did that take you?
I’d published several stories over the last number of year that touched on crime, and as time went on, it felt like these stories were starting to cohere into a unit — that they were clustering around ideas of memory, loss, grief, and folklore. Once I’d found that momentum, I wrote a few stories specifically responding to those themes — ‘Attic Storey’ and ‘The Day Of The Straws’ — to round off the collection.
Did you work with beta and/or sensitivity readers? How did you find them? How did you incorporate their feedback?
I’m very indebted for those who beta-read for me. Although writing fiction involves imagining characters, it’s always easiest to write characters, settings and experiences close to your own lived knowledge of the world, so I find it useful to consult with others who occupy spaces outside that. I always run stories by others if I feel the they warrant a second opinion in terms of potential triggers or areas of sensitivity. In this collection there were themes of loss, domestic abuse and racism which warranted sensitivity reads, so I made changes to several stories following useful feedback.
What was your querying process like? How long did it take?
It was embarrassingly simple. At the UK Ghost Story Festival 2025, Steve Shaw of Black Shuck Books asked me if I might have a potential mini-collection for a Shadows book in 2026. I went home and typed up a proper proposal for Down We Go Together and he accepted it by return email.
Pitching isn’t always this easy, but Steve had previously published my second collection, New Music For Old Rituals, in 2018, so that simplified the process in that he was already very familiar with my work.
Once it was in the hands of your publisher, what was the process to get it ready for release?
Steve and I worked together on edits. I tend to use a bit of creative licence with dashes and semi-colons, so I can always rely on him to rein me in. He’s also very open to feedback. When I suggested incorporating an earlier story that is now out of print — ‘I Look Like You, I Speak Like You, I Walk Like You’ — he was very amenable. We work well together, and tend to turn things around very quickly in the editorial process. I always enjoy working with Steve and I like to think the reverse is true (minus dash and semi-colon aberrations, of course).
And now your book is about to be unleashed on the world! How are you feeling?
Very gratified. It’s always exciting to step into a ‘new-to-me’ genre. I would like to write longer-form fiction and the genres I’m most drawn to are Gothic crime and ghost stories, so it’s also part of a longer thought experiment.
What would you like us to know about this book?
The book deals with the lingering nature of crime, the way that it disrupts life, family and community — the way it affects the very sense of self and identity. This unsettling effect is something germane to the Gothic. I’m always interested in these points of rupture, where experiences are upended, where transgression becomes normative. I don’t write graphic descriptions of bodily harm or assault, but it does contain some difficult topics, as you would expect in a collection of crime stories.
Who’s the ideal reader for this one? What sort of things do they like to read about?
I would say this is the ideal book for anyone who is intrigued by the psychology of crime stories more than by whodunnits or gory forensic thrillers. So if you like your crime writing dark, strange, and unresolved, this is the collection for you.
Your Writing Process
Are you a plotter or pantser or somewhere in between? How do you do your first draft?
Usually my first draft starts with a question in my notebook which expands into a messy spider diagram, a set of questions and ideas, jotted phrases and a rough beat sheet. But the full first draft is usually that inky sprawl typed up — although very occasionally (and this is a real gift) I write the first draft in one long notebook session.
How do you approach writing? Are you the type of writer who needs to treat it like a job? Is there a particular time of day you find best for you to write?
I’m a vortex of organised chaos. I’ve never missed a deadline, but I find it hard to write consistently. I tend to write in long, frantic jags when the ideas are spilling out, and to edit when I’m in more of an admin mode. In terms of times of the day, mornings are wonderful, but when I’m in The Flow I’ll write all day and night.
Geek out about stationery: do you use a notebook? A specific type of pen? Or are you computer all the way?
In terms of idea generation and initial scribbles, I use notebooks with cream paper and lined pages, and Uniball Eye Micro pens with black ink to free-write with. I have many many of what Roald Dahl called ‘Idea Books’ — messy notebooks scrawled with ideas — and I often go back to harvest these. I like to write freehand when I’m developing a story (initial descriptions, inciting phrases), and I also find writing questions enormously helpful: What does the protagonist want? What is stopping her from getting it?
Is any of that different for editing?
Yes. My editing is always on the computer. Once I get to a certain stage of idea development, I start typing up from my notebook. There’s a very different process with writing and editing; the former is looser, the latter is as pin-precise as possible. I very much enjoy both.
Where do you work? Do you have a comfy, creative space at home or are you someone who has to grab the moment wherever it comes?
Both! I’m lucky enough to have a study at home, but I also write in the garden, the kitchen, and in cafes when I want to switch up my environment. I’m particularly fond of writing by water — sea, ocean, river, waterfalls. I find the flow of water very energising. I also love writing on trains and especially on planes — a wonderful space free from internet distractions.
(Pictured: Tracy’s study)
What’s your writing soundtrack?
Mostly silence; I need to focus. But when I want an ambient soundtrack it’s mainly Sigur Ros. I do listen to Villagers or Pentangle for folk horror or folklore-inspired writing. Also on regular rotation are JFDR, Django Django, and The KLF’s Chill Out. (I adore The Cure and ’80s Goth but it’s far too distractingly brilliant to write to.)
Do you have a writing ritual?
It really depends where I am. My study writing is highly ritualised, surrounded by favourite objects, scents, pens, with the green glow of my banker’s lamp and the view of trees from my window. But I carry my notebook and pen with me at all times so that anywhere and anytime the ideas come I can channel them.
Where can we follow you / find out more about your work?
The best place to keep up to date with me is via my website www.tracyfahey.com, and I’m always happy to chat on Instagram @tracyfaheyauthor — do join me there.
Get Queens of the Crone Age from PS Publishing now, and keep an eye on Fly on the Wall Press for my next release, Women Changing, which is out in February.
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