- Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
It all depends on what kind of writing I’m doing that day. I don’t really write in a linear way… it’s back then forward then back then forward… like backstitching. (Yes, I was the kind of little girl who learned to backstitch. I blame too much Little Women and Anne Of Green Gables.)
So, with that cleared up:
Plotting and planning requires daydreaming. I play ‘let’s pretend’ in my brain and make notes.
Writing is very definitely best done in the morning for me with a bucket of coffee, or when I’ve given myself a deadline, ie, I have to finish this chapter by 4pm so I can go to the gym. I have to block everything else out, step into the little world I’ve created, and taptaptappitytap.
Editing is best with fresh eyes, ie, after reading/watching/doing something else entirely. It is exhausting as I need to question every word/sentence/paragraph and make sure it’s working as hard as possible .
I write very fast, and when my brain is tired, I have to force myself do something else, or I start writing utter bollocks. Baking helps, or shopping, or exercise, or walking and people-watching. Nothing involving words.
- The Dating Detox was very, very, VERY funny. What makes you laugh in real life?
Stop it! No, go on! I – oh, now I’m blushing… Thanks, I’m so happy you found it funny. Erm, everything makes me laugh, really. My sister and I had a fight years ago – I can’t remember what it was about, washing up or something. I started laughing and she said, furiously: ‘you just think EVERYTHING is so FUNNY!’. Which made me laugh more.
I love reading David Sedaris, he’s hilarious. TV shows like Arrested Development, Glee and 30 Rock make me laugh hysterically. I like things that are clever and sharp and silly and surprising and funny, all at the same time.
- Are Sass, Kate and Bloomie based on people that you know?
They’re inspired by bits of me, my sister and my friends. No one is exactly anyone… The weird thing is that I end up feeling like I know the characters to the point where I know what food they order and what music they like. All my friends are always asking who is who, which is a teeny tiny bit insulting – it’s fiction! I made it up, it’s all from my imagination. I promise.
- What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
Tough question… Maybe Polo by Jilly Cooper. Or Bridget Jones Diary – God, that’s hilarious, it’s the perfect comic novel. I loved Eat Love Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert, it was so warm and smart – brilliantly written. I love The Group, by Mary McCarthy. And I love Mariana, by Monica Dickens. And I love Dorothy Whipple. And Stella Gibbons! Oh, I can’t choose. There are too many. All of them warm, smart, inspiring, comforting books.
- What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
A little from column A, a little from column B... I only had a very vague plan in my head for The Dating Detox; it was sort of intuitive improvisation, AKA.‘winging it’.
For my second book – title TBA, out December 2010 - and some other things in the pipeline, I’ve been planning a lot more. I write character descriptions spanning a thousand words – who they are, where they come from, what they like. It’s like having dinner with someone: I really get to know them and have ideas about things they might do or think.
Writing a novel feels a bit like walking into an empty room and deciding what pieces of furniture would go where. It’s mostly instinctive, you know? You can sort of feel what fits and what you’ll need.
My favourite part of writing is dialogue. You know when you’re in bed and you think of the perfect comeback to something someone said, like, six hours ago? When you’re writing you can use all those comebacks! It’s so satisfying. And figuring out how each character speaks and thinks – ah, it’s so fun.
As far as drafts go – well, I write at least two for me (but I’m constantly editing and re-reading and tweaking as I go, of course), then feedback from my agent results in another draft, then feedback from editor requires another draft. I just finished that draft of my second book. Tis exciting.
- What was your journey to being a published author?
It was bloody lucky, for the most part.
I had never really thought about becoming an author. I loved to write, and lucky for me I wrote all day every day as an advertising copywriter.
I actually only started writing The Dating Detox because my sister and I had been talking about how we wanted to read more funny, sharp books about strong-but-normal girls that we’d actually want to hang out with, and when I was laid up in bed with a bad back for a few weeks I thought, to hell with it, and started writing.
I wrote a few chapters, sent it off to 10 agents picked by their postcode (seriously, isn’t that ridiculous?), finished writing the book and signed with the wonderful Laura Longrigg at MBA Literary Agents. Then we got a book deal with Avon HarperCollins. It felt like forever, but from writing the first word to getting the book deal was about 13 months. I go into it in more detail in my blog, if you want the nitty-gritty.
- What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
That it’s easy. Also, that it’s hard. It’s a bit of both… like everything in life. There is no great mystery to it, you have to work hard at it and keep your fingers/legs/eyes crossed.
- What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
Read everything you can, edit brutally (just save it as a new version so you can go back and pillage old words later if you really need to – but you probably won’t), and try to find your own ‘voice’.
I try to write warm, direct, chatty, entertaining copy, as though I was just talking to the reader over a drink. It’s meant to look effortless, though being chatty and entertaining whilst sticking to the point, ensuring the story pacy, and making sure that the reader still wants to know what’s going to happen next can be tricky. I constantly reread things I write and think ‘that’s not entertaining, you fool’. But I’m trying.
- Have you ever been on a dating detox?
Yep. Years ago. I mostly started it as I thought it would be funny, but I was also trying to cut ties with a troublesome ex-boyfriend and an even more troublesome almost-boyfriend - the type who would be all over me until I responded, then ignore me, then I’d ignore him and he’d chase me again... I felt like I was in a vicious date-dump-chase-date-dump cycle, and decided to put myself on ice for a bit.
Of course, six weeks later I saw someone cute in a bar and well, you know…
- How much do you think your career as a copywriter helped with your fiction writing?
Hmm well I am very comfortable as a writer, and that all comes down to 10 years experience writing day in, day out. Copywriters are trained to write punchy, factual copy that people read effortlessly. We are word-bots.
I also think it helps that I had a creative director, an account manager or a client criticising (ah, ‘commenting’) on my copy every day for years. As a result I’m both thick-skinned and self-critical, which I think is probably good – complacency is the enemy of creativity.
Perhaps as a result of the actual writing being so enjoyable and instinctive for me, my weakest area is definitely plots. I’ve had to put an awful lot of extra work in to get them up to scratch. I also tend to want to write about normal girls doing normal things, and I don’t really like melodrama, which means I tread a fine line between ‘relatable’ and ‘inconsequential’.
- In The Dating Detox you reference a few 80s teen comedies. Who was your 80’s teen comedy and crush, and what was your fave 80’s teen comedy movie? (Mine were Patrick Dempsey and Dance til Dawn!)
Sixteen Candles and Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling! He was then in Mermaids and disappeared, pliff), always and forever. I also love lesser-known 80s comedies like She’s Outta Control and Student Exchange and Secret Admirer. WHAT is Dance til Dawn!? I must away to Amazon and buy this immediatement. Thank you… xx
Thanks, Gemma!
Have a gander at Gemma's Blog (full of excellent writing advice for aspiring writers!)
