Melissa Hill has the BEST ideas for novels and (unlike another author who shall remain nameless *cough*) is actually a really good writer too. Read on for one of my favourite author interviews yet.
Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:
Woman tries to fight memory loss by having the most unforgettable year of her life.
Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?
I love to write outside and if the weather’s good, I take my laptop out in the garden or down by the sea. But as I live in Ireland and not St Tropez, unfortunately most books are written inside at my desk.
Your favourite chick-lit book?
There are so many its difficult to chose just one, but I think it has to be Patricia Scanlan’s City Girls. It was the first chicklit book I ever read and it had a huge effect on me.
Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?
It’s actually not a chicklit heroine but one from a thriller; Amelia Sachs from Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme novels. She’s a real tough cookie, drives a really fast car, has an amazingly cool job (forensic cop), cover-girl looks and is shit-hot with a gun – everything I wish I could be!
What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?
Read as much as you can and read critically. Study what works for you and what doesn't but don't make too many comparisons to your own writing as you are on a learning curve. While I'm on the first draft of a novel, I will not - under any circumstances - allow myself to read another women's fiction novel. I'll read thrillers to beat the band but nothing like I'm writing myself, otherwise, I get really disheartened despite the fact that mine is still a work-in-progress.
What are you reading at the moment?
I’ve just finished Jodi Picoult’s Songs of the Humpback Whale, which I really enjoyed. The narrative timeline is all over the place, which really shouldn’t work but somehow does. The woman is so good she could write ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ and make it work.
What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)
I’m just finished the first draft of my next book Please Forgive Me, which is about a woman who rents a house in San Francisco and stumbles across a box of letters left behind by someone else. All are signed off with the words ‘Please Forgive Me’ so she tries to find out the story behind them.
Do you have a theme song?
I think it would have to be 'Rock the Boat' (make of that what you will!)
What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been?
Q: Does it bother you that your books are labelled chicklit? (can you believe I’ve never been asked that?)
A: The answer is no, it doesn’t bother me at all. I consider it a
simple, snappy catchphrase that encompasses all kinds of woman’s
fiction and see no reason to come over all precious about it. The way
I see it, I’m incredibly lucky to be doing a job that I absolutely
love, so I’m certainly not going to start whinging about labels. The
way I see it, the only label I need to worry about my books being
called is ‘shite’!
Thanks, Melissa!
