Bestselling author Coco Mellors on her journey as a writer

Whether or not you are an avid reader, you likely saw Coco Mellors everywhere on social media. Her debut novel, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, gained significant attention—courtesy the vivid oil painting of her lead character Cleo that made the book even more intriguing. However, the praise extended beyond its cover—many found Mellor’s writing style remarkably realistic and after its release in 2022, the book was widely recognised by various publications as one of the year’s most captivating books.

Born in northwest London, Mellors is the youngest of the four siblings. She moved to New York at 15, thanks to her father’s job, where she later went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from NYU. Mellors then moved to Los Angeles where she lived for three years, working as a fashion copywriter until her latest book, Blue Sisters, was completed.

It’s a weekday, as her and I connect over a Zoom call. It’s 9 am for her in New York (where she now lives) and the best-selling author has a bubble headband on as we speak. “I always wanted to be a writer, I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else,” she says, attributing her love of writing to her passion for reading. Her mother, a voracious reader, would frequently discuss books and read to her as a child.

So, it’s no surprise that when I ask about her favourite authors, the British-born New Yorker lights up with enthusiasm. She loves James Baldwin and has read all his books, with Giovanni’s Room being her favourite.

Mellors not only appreciates the classics, but also enjoys contemporary authors like Jennifer Egan, Zadie Smith, and Jonathan Franzen. When she seeks inspiration, she often revisits the modernist period of writing. Currently, she’s reading Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.

The 35-year-old’s book, Cleopatra and Frankenstein—a title her mother came up with—took five years to write and faced 30 rejections before finding a publisher. But the “overwhelmingly soft rejections” made Mellors believe that the book was connecting with its readers. “I felt I had direction,” she tells Bazaar India. “Like the third book that I am writing right now, I’m really struggling with it and I feel a bit lost too, but if I’m not writing the book that I fear, then I know I’m not writing the right book.”

Her debut book’s narrative centres on Cleo and Frank, who encounter each other in an elevator while attempting to leave a party just before the New Year. Cleo, an ethereal yet challenging artist from England in her early twenties, crosses paths with Frank, a prosperous media mogul in his forties. In a whirlwind decision, they marry as Cleo’s student visa nears its expiration. The book explores the life of their impromptu marriage and the consequences.

Mellors reveals that the first scene she wrote for her debut book was the honeymoon scene on the balcony. “I wrote it during my MFA programme as an exercise from my teacher, Amy Hempel, who asked us to create a scene where the emotional tone contradicts the expected setting. For a honeymoon, you’d expect romance and harmony, so I wrote a scene full of disharmony, disappointment, and lack of communication.”

She quips about her protagonist laughing, “If I could change one thing about my career, it would be not making Cleopatra blonde!” Mellors struggled to connect with her, who felt flat compared to other characters. “Cleo was very protective and kept slipping away from me, so I ended up giving her a distinctive physical trait—blonde hair.” She also mentions her fascination with the concept of a green card marriage, which added external pressure to the relationship and helped shape the book.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein is currently in production to be released as a television series. Mellors is actively involved in adapting her book, ensuring the story remains intact. The series will stream with Warner Bros. Television Studios and Brownstone Productions. However, Mellors adds, “It’s TV land and anything could happen...so stay tuned!”

Having written both her books while juggling a full-time day job, Mellors shares that she is constantly striving to achieve a [work-life] balance. “In order to write, I have to live and have experiences. There are periods when I’m not writing much because I’m having interesting experiences or because I need to make money,” she says.

There were many weeks when Mellors couldn’t work on her fiction due to deadlines and clients. “When I haven’t written for a while, the first couple of days back are just about getting into the rhythm; I can’t immediately write at the level I want,” she explains.

“I would try not to work on Fridays so I could have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for writing. This way, I had at least three consecutive days to think and gestate.” Mellors believes that being a writer allows her to live her life multiple times over, adding another dimension and richness that she wouldn’t otherwise have. “So I don’t feel I’m missing out (on life) in that way,” she says, “Writing is, in many ways, the love of my life.”

Often addressing addiction, alcoholism, and grief in her books, she explains, “It’s not that I want to talk about it, it’s like I have to talk about it—it isn’t even a choice!” Mellors finds these topics unavoidable. “I’m really interested in writing about the things we have a hard time talking about”. For her, fiction is most potent and powerful when it addresses these issues. “The things that make us feel the most alone are, for me, the best things to write about.”

Mellors, who got sober at 26, comes from a family with a history of addiction and alcoholism, with nearly all of them now sober.“Addiction is a part of my life, and I have been very open about my own sobriety.” In her books, she addresses topics like motherhood, struggles with endometriosis, and physical pain—things that she has personally experienced. “These are so many, especially women’s, lived experiences,” says Mellors. This, she says, drives her forward as a creative person.

Out of her siblings, Daisy is her only full sister, who is less than two years older than her, and they share an incredibly close bond. “She is, in many ways, the most important relationship in my life, other than with my husband and son. I wanted to capture the intensity, stickiness, beauty, and ugliness of that love we share,” Mellors says.

Her latest novel, Blue Sisters, took about two years to complete and tells the story of three very different sisters, each living in different parts of the world, who reunite on the anniversary of their fourth sister’s death. “I loved the idea of four sisters,” Mellors explains. “It’s such a literary trope...there’s romance and a kind of iconography around that which I was interested to play with.”

The author finds a bit of herself in each sister in her novel. With Avery, she relates to long-term sobriety and the perfectionism of making up for past mistakes. In Barney, she sees the parallels between boxing and writing, both requiring a monomaniacal devotion.

Though Nikki is not alive in the book, she is alive to Mellors through memory. “I connected with her love of clothing, femininity, and the deep desire to be a mother, paired with the fear of not being able to.” With Lucky, she sees her own youth, where confidence masked fear and unknowing. “Her death-defying partying reminds me of my own reckless experiences, where I now think, ‘Thank God, I survived’. It’s a stark reminder of the vulnerability of young people, especially addicts.”

Alongside the television series, Mellors is also working on her third book, which is set in Paris, about a woman experiencing success for the first time in her career. Talking more about the plot, she says, “This character, previously always in the wings of other’s successes, has now made a film that has become popular in France. She finds herself in the city, enjoying a creative renaissance while also grappling with whether to continue trying for a child after experiencing pregnancy loss. She faces a pivotal decision: return to America to pursue motherhood or embrace her newfound creative freedom in Paris.”

The story also explores a love triangle involving her ex-girlfriend, a pop star in Paris, and her husband, who was the music producer for the pop star. Mellors aims this to be a short, vibrant novel—a summer Paris story about love and grief.

The grief Mellors will explore this time will be miscarriage. “It’s something that I really wanted to write about because I have experienced it myself,” she shares. She finds fertility a compelling topic for women in their 30s. “I went through my 20s feeling highly aware of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism; but at the same time, I felt some level of parity with men around me. We all did what we wanted to do in our 20s. But in my 30s, time changed for all the women I know. Whether they wanted children or not, time contracted for us, while it didn’t for men. We had this biological onus on us that never existed before—only a short period to make the biggest decision of our lives: if we want to have a child, with whom, and if we even can. The injustice of that struck me, especially when I realised men are free during this period to focus on their careers, travel, and can decide at 48 to have kids with a younger partner. For most women, by 48, that door is closed.”

Mellors gets a bit hesitant when I ask about the book’s release date. She mentions that she is due to submit the manuscript early next spring. With a new baby and upcoming tours for her book—which is not yet out in the US—she couldn’t provide a specific timeline. “I think books are meant to last for a long, long time. So I don’t rush the process. I want to write books that can be read in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years. There’s no point in writing something quickly that I won’t be happy within a year.”

Image credit: Zoe Potkin

This article first appeared in Harper's Bazaar India, August print issue. 

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